The Obscure Legion
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to Cyber Crisis. Now that other parties won't steal their spotlight, Neo Gospel's Darkloids have gained new bodies and become the "Obscure Legion": with new tactics, intelligence and abilities, they set out to challenge all of the peace defenders out there. What appealed as a quiet September will soon become activity-filled with battles at any time. Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Of nicknames and madness

**The Obscure Legion**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Of nicknames and madness**

08:31 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday September the 17th, 2009…

"… Well. Another day begins."

"Let's pick Nelaus, as usual, and be on our way."

"To the Abode of Annoying Fellas!"

"Sigma. That nickname is LAME."

"Did ya say somethin'? Bloody~ Shadowy~?"

"I give up."

"No wonder. It's a miracle we haven't go mad already."

"More like dumb luck."

Hikari Netto, aged 16, was talking with his twin brother, Saito, as they walked down a street of Akihara Town: given how they were wearing their middle school uniform it was obvious that they were heading to class: a couple of Navis (inside of their PETs, with Saito's being colored green) were taking part in the chat too.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Sigma the Magis strikes back!" Netto's Navi laughed.

"That's a corruption of "Magi" or "Wizard", Sigma, and you know it. Quit fooling around." Saito's Navi sighed.

"As expected of Samus Aran's lil bro~!"

"Enough of that. Boss designed me using Samus Aran's armor as model, yeah, but that doesn't mean I've got something to do with the lady. End of the tale."

"And start of the tragedy sponsored by Rush!"

"How will Rush sponsor a tragedy, anyway?"

"By _rushing_ it all!"

"Huff. How lame." The twins muttered with some annoyance to their voices.

Sigma activated the hologram projector and appeared outside of the PET on that moment.

He was a Net Navi about two meters tall.

He was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently aiming at the floor in lazy manner.

"Sigma the Magi! On the scene! By speeding thunders!"

"Speeding thunders?" The twins sighed.

"Yeah, fellows! Right, Bloody~ Shadowy~?"

"That nickname's way too old by now. I'm Blood Shadow."

Blood Shadow, Saito's Navi, used red as his main body color.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red.

A small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

Overall, he seemed to be about Netto's and Saito's age.

"Hey. Guys. Morning."

"Ah! Nelaus. Morning."

"Is everything OK, Isaac?"

"You know me. But it's picking me… This lack of activity…"

"True."

The twins had reached a nearby house and a guy came out of it to join them.

The guy, Nelaus, was about the twins' age and maybe some inches taller than either Netto or Saito.

He had neatly arranged blonde hair which ended at his neck's base and his eyes' irises were green emerald.

His facial features were rather smooth and suave, thus making him stand out somehow.

He carried a Link PET arm strap: his Link PET was colored golden and purple: its emblem was the Alphabet letter "I" colored purple.

"They're striking a strike!" Sigma laughed.

"How lame." Blood Shadow sighed.

"Sigma. Quit it." Isaac, the Navi, grumbled.

"And what if I don't, Israel Hands?"

"What did ya say?" He got further annoyed.

"Oh come on. That's how we start a day?" Netto sighed.

"Jeez." Saito grumbled.

Isaac, Nelaus' Net Navi, had a unique design and was about a meter and eighty tall.

His face was young and looked like a guy on his teens: his eyes' irises were purple and they had a hint of annoyance to them.

His helmet had a central ruby jewel over the forehead shaped like a cross having four triangle ends: eight lines radiated from the central of it and spread across its surface.

The helmet's main color was navy blue and it was also filled with small round and random green dots.

His ear-pads had a white edge and a reddish central body: the Alphabet "I" letter colored purple had been printed there.

His neck had a piece of armor shaped like the Alphabet "V" protecting its base before the start of the chest: it had a cyan edge which split it into two halves the insides of which were colored yellow.

His shoulders were slightly curved square pieces with brown edges, a central silver matrix and five bronze paws forming out of the southern edge which weren't even 5cm long.

His main body color was blue and a central thin purple line spread from the neck's base until his waist, being interrupted by his chest emblem which had the same design as that of his ear-pads.

Some small jade-colored pieces made of two triangles aiming in opposite directions fused at their base were set in columns along the sides of his upper body: none of them were taller than 2cm.

His waist had a belt with three converging rectangular stripes of white edges and black body.

These fused in a diamond having a gray body plus a repetition of his Navi emblem on its center.

His arms had purplish DNA imprints painted over their surface.

His forearm armor had a magenta matrix on them.

His wrists were colored in a bronze color.

His hands were blue in color too and they had a circle with a white edge the insides of which depicted the Katana "I" colored purple: some "stars" were drawn at random over the background of the symbol.

His legs had some round dots set along their height which contained a drawing: the edge was brown, the core of it was purple and eight slightly curved lines painted red stretched from the core: the gaps between each one were colored blue.

The knees contained a circling bracelet colored mahogany and having those two fused triangles on the front colored golden.

The boots were colored purple and had an eight-pointed sapphire set on the inward side just below the ankle

Eight thin indigo lines spread from each spook of the sapphire and across the boot.

Overall he was very cool and looked advanced.

"Let's get to the school. And, Sigma… Behave or else Omega will come punish you again." Netto warned.

"Yikes!" He gasped.

"The guy's too predictable."

"But, like I was saying before… The lack of activity from Neo Gospel is picking me… Not even Cloud Man has shown up to try to pull some lame prank on us…" Isaac brought up.

"Well. Seeing how they came up with that deal back in August, it's not surprising. They must be running out of ideas. And now they don't have another party to take the spotlight while they plot something behind the scenes." Nelaus shrugged.

"But we mustn't lower the guard. Or else we'll end up like how we ended up in August." Netto warned.

"True." Saito grumbled.

"Hey. Morning."

"Ah. Meiru – chan. Morning."

"Hi, Saito – kun."

"Ah. Roll – chan. Morning."

"Mwah, hah, hah. I've got the Anti Rival Chip!"

"Guts, guts. It says "Patented by Higure Yamitarou – sama"."

"As expected."

"As expected, desu."

"When it comes to Higure – san… Right, Tooru – kun?"

"Sure, Eboshi – kun."

The group reached the school gates: Sakurai Meiru, Roll (projecting with the hologram), Ooyama Dekao, Guts Man, Hikawa Tooru, Ice Man and Eboshi Shuuichi were waiting there already.

"Yo. Hi, guys."

"Ah. Arushi Masuko – kun. Morning."

Arushi Masuko had brown messy hair and blue eyes.

He could be about the twins' age.

"Tee, heh, heh. Nelaus – kun! Morning!"

"Isaac – kun! Morning."

"Ah. Tamashita Aura – chan."

"Felicia – chan."

A girl joined them: she was around sixteen years old and roughly a few inches shorter than Nelaus.

She had orange curly hair and blue eyes.

She also carried her arm strap for her Link PET.

Her Link PET's emblem was a stylized "F" letter colored white and black and set against a blue background which was decorated with snow drops.

"I'm glad you came to my birthday party on Saturday."

"Obviously. Why shouldn't I come?"

"Nothing new happened, Isaac – kun?"

"No, Felicia – chan."

Felicia seemed to be around her Operator's height at a first glance.

Her helmet was colored olive green and it had a sapphire set into its forehead which glowed differently depending on the light's angle: the helmet included a cobalt blue matrix over its surface.

Her eyes were cobalt blue as well and two twin tails of blondish hair came out from behind her head.

Her bodysuit's main color was cobalt blue instead and her emblem was the same one as in the PET.

Her shoulders were anatomically correct and had ruby plating over them while her arms and elbow were colored in a mix of blue and white decorated with emerald square dots.

Her forearms were colored orange and had eight thin pink circles circling along their length.

Her legs used a mix of blue and yellow and contained diamond-shaped brown dots scattered at random.

The boots had been painted using orange color and had zigzag patterns which vertically spanned the height of them.

GO~NG!

They all looked to the left to see Ayanokouji Yaito's limousine stopping there: a gong rang out and the automated red carpet scrolled down the space between the limousine and the entrance: the door opened and her legion of maids got to their positions on both sides of the carpet.

"Yo! Ne – chan! You're early, eh?"

"What was that? Jeez. Miss Ayanokouji. Save me the nicknames!"

Yaito giggled as she stepped down while sipping some strawberry milk with a straw: she then came up with a silly nickname for Nelaus on the scene and he groaned.

"Tama – chan will kick the ball from time to time."

"WHAT was THAT?" Tamashita demanded.

"Mei – chan will found the Mei dynasty!"

"Mei dynasty~? Jeez." Meiru sighed.

"Arushi – chan will go back to his _aruji_!"

"I'll go back to my master? Sheesh." Arushi sighed.

"Ookarada – chan will become a _sumo_ champion!"

"WHAT?" He gasped in horror.

"Nettie – chan will net the fishes!"

"Come on." Netto rolled his eyes.

"Sai – chan will go to Kansai!"

"Oh yeah?" He rolled his eyes too.

"Tooru – chan will become my new butler!"

"Someone save me." He sighed in defeat.

"Eboshi – chan will patent the Star Bird!"

"Don't make a pun on my surname!" He protested back.

"And, lastly…! I'll invent the Anti Competency Mower!" She announced while laughing.

"Yaito – sama…!" Glyde groaned in exasperation.

"Propelled by the Bat – Glider!"

"Huff. How brilliant." Everyone muttered (Sigma included) with obvious dryness.

"Alright, my fellows enchanted by General Campestre~! We march into the fort! Tee, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!"

Yaito marched forward while the maids returned into the limousine and the carpet rolled back it: the car departed while everyone sighed in defeat as they headed to the building.

"I thought her dad's lessons had been enough but no…" Netto broke the silence with obvious defeatism.

"Someone save us from this madness." Saito groaned.

"It's some miracle we haven't go mad by now." Meiru sighed.

"Dumb luck?" Roll suggested.

"Guess that." Dekao rolled his eyes.

"Guts, guts." Guts Man shrugged.

"Dumb luck, alright." Tooru sighed.

"Dumb luck, desu…" Ice Man rolled his eyes too.

"I can't complain. I've only been here for one year and some months compared to you guys." Arushi sighed in defeat.

"And since I'm the "B" group then I don't meet her so often so I've been rather safe from her madness." Eboshi added.

"Yeah. You should consider yourselves fortunate." Sigma sighed.

"See what happens when you get too cocky?" Blood Shadow scolded.

"Man. No need to scold me anymore, Blood. I feel down already."

"Lovely. And it's only 8 AM. It'll get worse: I just know it." Blood Shadow growled.

"Yeah. We should try to look up something to lighten our mood: maybe I'll bring up a _Tintin_ video."

"By the way… Speaking of Tintin… That Choina madman who tried to cut off my head a year ago… Didn't you say he looked like a total rip-off of a _Tintin_ episode?" Nelaus asked Sigma.

"Yeah. The Blue Lotus. And the dialog and behavior were exacts: maybe the guy got obsessed with it for some reason." Sigma sighed.

"I see." He wasn't surprised.

The group had kept on chatting as they all switched their shoes and they headed up the stairs towards their classrooms.

"But hard to believe we've come this far… 4th of middle school already: time does fly by…" Netto commented.

"Yeah. But we can't complain. We had that break from 2005 to 2007 with nothing major happening… And even Neo Gospel takes some time before moving again… Let them boil their brains away. Let's focus on today's lessons." Saito shrugged.

"Alright. I'm going to patrol along with Sigma and Blood but I don't think anything important will happen so suddenly. Those guys must want to increase our confidence." Isaac announced.

"And they'll strike." Netto guessed.

"And then they claim that they aren't repetitive." Saito shrugged.

"Maybe we should tell them Dragon's latest banner! "Oh foolish one: thou fate is to become one with the river and be forgotten by all living ones until the end of Time Eternal"…" Sigma grinned.

"How silly." The twins, Blood Shadow, Isaac and Nelaus grumbled.

"Mwah, hah, hah! The Magi's comeback with a thundering typhoon and a blistering barnacle borrowed from Captain Haddock!"

"Let's get to the classroom already. Go patrol." Netto ordered.

"Yeah. We'll talk at break time."

"Huff. What a start of the day."

09:29 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Well, Blues?"

"According to Isaac and Blood Shadow… They've been way TOO quiet, Enzan – sama."

"Truly. Twilight himself didn't think of being so quiet. I guess Anaya Maria is pulling his strings again. Even though she's locked in Ameroupe, we can't stop Twilight from materializing inside of the prison cell anytime he wants to. Prisons are no longer 100% secure but we should be lucky they haven't decided to sabotage them all and let the ones inside loose."

Blues had come to report to Ijuuin Enzan's PC within his IPC VP Office: Enzan began to think aloud while Blues remained quiet: Enzan looked tired, nervous and defeatist.

"Enzan – sama. You should try to rest some more hours. You're getting strained, sir." Blues told him.

"I know. But my old man suddenly popped up again and is placing more pressure on me to get better numbers… We've been increasing our benefits over these years by over 40% in total and he doesn't have enough…" He grumbled.

"The timing strikes me as odd, sir."

"I don't think Twilight is behind that: the old man pops up whenever he feels like it." Enzan fumed.

"Blues – sama: Search Man – sama requests access." A security Navi reported to Blues.

"Did you scan his data?"

"Yes, sir. He did have the tag you installed, sir."

"Good, let him in."

"Roger, sir."

"Maybe Laika's found some new _vodka_." Enzan ironically suggested.

"Enzan – sama…!"

"What's up, Blues?" Search Man asked as he came in.

"Enzan – sama is feeling the pressure."

"The President?"

"Sadly enough."

"The worst possible timing?" Laika asked Enzan next.

"Sure. Do you have some _vodka_?"

"Enzan…" He sighed in defeat.

"I know. It was some irony. Well? What's up in Sharo?"

"No big deal, really… Save that… Well…" He rolled his eyes.

"You got a troll in your unit?" Enzan tried to guess.

"Yeah. At least he's not as lame as Sigma or Shadow Man but you get the idea, nevertheless. He somehow seems to have found some audio show Vincent "Red" records and is always quoting it."

"Vincent "Red"…? Where have I heard that name before?" Enzan seemingly tried to recall.

"Enzan – sama: remember, during Shirakami's campaign, the kidnapping incident which involved Netto and Saito? Back in summer, 2005."

"Ah! I remember! That crazy Mexican… And didn't Davis say he'd actually been a spy or something like that?"

"He'd gotten into the CIA by tricking a novice interviewer and then began to leak info to Sharo: they kicked him out. Then, during the winter of 2007 – 2008, Sidier hired him to play the role of Kranos Opoulos, the Deadly Pandora leader… Well. To be exacts… We didn't know Opoulos' name save for his initials so he went by the name "Kenneth Onderson"…"

"Ah. Yeah. I remember."

"Speaking of Deadly Pandora, Vincent's name was in their servers."

"No wonder, Search Man. According to Isaac… A radar controller by the name of Mike somehow got a hold of his "show" too and liked to broadcast it across the base to troll the others." Blues explained with a sigh.

"In short: madness ensues." Laika summed up.

"Luckily Shadow Man is still under punishment, locked in a secure folder of the Subspace HQ's Cyber World, and switched off. Let's hope this gives him a lesson that there's a limit to his useless pranks." Enzan lazily stretched his arms.

"Let's hope so." Search Man sighed.

"Yo~! Laika~! Listen to this!" Someone exclaimed off-screen.

"Vlad? Leave me alone." Laika grumbled to someone.

"_Siete pantosymanos y un maligno_!" A voice in Spanish exclaimed from a PET's speaker.

"What the hell was that?" Enzan sighed.

"I don't find the word "pantosymanos" in any dictionary." Search Man announced.

"No wonder, Mr. Metal Slug!"

"Metal Slug? What's that?" Search Man sighed.

"A classic!"

"Huff. Well. Some game involving a mercenary piloting a tank, I think it was… Anyway! Vlad! Explain!"

"Pantos y manos! Vincent's trademark word! It's short for "espantos y manos"!"

"Scares & hands? What's the point?" Enzan sighed.

"Dunno! But it's 100% Mexican!"

"Lovely." Laika grumbled.

"Isn't it?" Vlad laughed.

"Go away. Now. Or else…"

"You'll paint my face green?" Vlad laughed next.

"Uncle is gonna get annoyed. AGAIN."

"Yikes."

"Ah. I see him coming."

"UWA~H!" Vlad screamed and ran off like he was gonna be slaughtered alive.

"Finally." Search Man fumed.

"Did you investigate that guy's background?" Enzan asked.

"Of course. I thought it might be a spy of Twilight and I've done some exhaustive research: Colonel Talos of the "Committee" also helped me out on that but we found nothing to link him to Twilight. The only skeleton on his closet is that he slipped away during sentry duty in his previous base, 3 years ago, and was caught having some _vodka_ rounds in the canteen: he was put under disciplinary detention for 1 week." Laika sighed.

"What happened to the famed "iron discipline"?" Enzan asked.

"Huff. That? It's crumbled to dust ever since the fall of the Soviet Union: as if it wasn't obvious enough."

"Laika~! I'm the ghost of the malt whisky~!"

"Vlad. I'm going to get annoyed."

"Oh yeah? Mr. Spoiled by the Heavens is gonna get annoyed?"

THUD! BLOF!

"Ugru~h…" Vlad moaned.

"This was a disciplinary correction." Laika coolly announced.

"Loopholes – man…!" Vlad growled.

"Say what you want. It won't change anything."

"Shit! I'll have my revenge~!"

"You've said that hundreds of times but you're not intelligent enough to come up with anything complicated." Laika shrugged it off.

"Shit!"

Hurried footsteps were heard rushing away: both Enzan and Laika sighed in defeat.

"Anyway. We've been doing some searches in Melbourne but we've had no luck insofar. Twilight must be hijacking other connections to ensure that he can't be traced back to his current house. He could've faked the date of sale too." Laika continued.

"Yeah. Obviously. Having been at it for a year and some weeks by now then it's no wonder."

"Wonder of wondering wonders?" Laika tried to come up with a joke to switch the mood.

"Why not?" Enzan shrugged.

"By the way: I don't intend to lose in the next chess game." Laika grinned and blinked him the right eye.

"We'll see about that." Enzan got smug.

"Let's hope they don't fight over that." Blues muttered.

"Yeah. Let's hope that." Search Man rolled his eyes.

"The Goddess of Chess is my ally, Enzan. My horse will place a curse on your bishop." Laika challenged.

"Heh. Then my rooks will rook your pawns." Enzan challenged back.

"Oh well. Let's hope it'll help improve the mood." Search Man shrugged.

"Yeah. Let's hope so… Twilight… What are you lowlife up to?"

Both Navis remained silent while the Operators joked to each other…


	2. Chapter 2: Comedy club

**Chapter 2: Comedy Club**

14:45 PM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 19th…

"… Oi! You rascals! Wily – sama came! Salute!"

"_What_! Hinoken! _You_ called _me_ a _rascal_? _Fight_!"

"There they go… AGAIN."

"Wily – sama, sir! Do something about it, sir!"

"You two!"

"W… Wily – sama, sir!"

"Back to work! Or else…!"

"R-roger, sir!"

"Hi there~… Charlie Team came!"

"Sheesh. Let's not start the farce again, Charles."

"Don't worry, Dave~…"

"Davis, not Dave~…"

Dr. Wily had stepped into the Maha Ichiban's restaurant: Hinoken called out to the others to salute: Count Elec got annoyed on the spot, Iroaya Madoi groaned out of exasperation, and Maha Jarama called out to Dr. Wily who got annoyed, too, and made the two men start tremble in fear: he sat down and a new customer came in.

"Che. Morgan's tribe heir!"

"Count Elec!"

"Yikes!"

"WORK!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Huff. My surname is Morgangantz and you know it, Count Elec!"

"Morgangantz, Charles Morgangantz."

"Oh come on. Dave~… Gimme a break!"

Charles Morgangantz was a young man who could be about a meter and seventy-five in height but his age was around his early 20s.

He had messy silver hair which spread slightly backwards and formed some spikes: his eyes' irises were blue.

His clothes consisted on a navy blue overcoat which had a central silver button about the waist.

His coat then opened to expose his legs although it covered the rear of them.

He wore a black shirt beneath the overcoat plus black fingerless gloves on his hands: he also sported black jeans and sneakers.

The right shoulder contained blackish armor with an orange-colored edge and a silver button right over it which seemed to help it be gripped to the shoulder: three circles were then drawn on his right sleeve before a triangular piece of armor expanded over the hand: its main body was black too and it had orange edges.

His PET was colored silver and brown and had an emblem: it was a perfect golden-colored cross which was drawn inside of a silver circle having a brownish edge.

"Nope."

"Oh come on! Davis!"

Davis, his Navi, had a deep brown bodysuit and he appealed as being about a meter and eighty tall in height.

His eyes' irises were chestnut brown and his face seemed to be shaped after a man on his early 20s: he currently displayed some annoyance which they didn't bother to conceal.

His helmet's color of choice was red: and so were both of his boots and his forearms.

The helmet had the _kanji_ for "seigi" or "justice" written in a golden coloring vertically across his forehead's height.

The Navi seemed to wear a vest over his chest armor colored silver: this vest had bronze edges: it also had the Alphabet character "D" colored golden set on each side of its body.

His arms contained four thin brownish stripes running down the north, south, west and east side of them until they drew four circles around the wrist: his forearms had extra armor over it colored in a grayish color plus a small red dome inside of each palm.

The legs' length had been designed to include a network of patterns interconnected by some nodes which were reminiscent of human nerves: the boots' front edge was shaped like a triangle and so was the heel: they apparently served as close-quarters combat weapons.

"Huh? Guys? Who is "DB" and why does this email say "grow noses and evil fangs"?" Fire Man asked the others.

"Dunno." Colored Man shrugged.

"Don't ask me." Elec Man grumbled.

"It must be the enemy." Magic Man guessed.

"Shah, shah, shah! It's gotta be that Darth Bapgei jerk!"

"Huh? Ah. Needle Man. Any news?"

"Nope…"

Needle Man stepped into the Cyber World while grumbling aloud: Davis called out to him and he sighed.

"So, Yuriko?" Wily asked her.

"Nothing. Almost like they'd become steam." She sighed as she sat down opposite Wily.

"Hum. We won't catch them with the guard lowered again."

"Indeed…" Maha muttered in the meanwhile.

"Huff. Sadly enough… Twilight got confident in August and didn't think he'd been figured out some days before by the Net Agents and Rama: but he's learnt the lesson." She took off the sunglasses and let them atop the table.

"Wily – sama! How do I defeat Freeze Man?" Hinoken suddenly asked Wily with eagerness.

"Hinoken. You don't have any memory or WHAT?" He growled back.

"Huh!" He gasped.

"Freeze Man doesn't have a solid body ever since a year ago! And he won't make it easy for you to target the core program, his essence! He could be hiding tens of meters away while taunting with the hologram at the same time!" Wily scolded.

"Huh! T-true, Wily – sama!"

"Huff. We'll get nowhere at this rate." Fire Man sighed.

"Aren't you guys looking for clues?" Wily asked Charles.

"Of course! But we've also got other investigations going on: each member of the "Justice Council" is working on something else and we're the only ones who can focus on this area."

"Like Charlie~ Team says…" Davis shrugged.

"Shah, shah, shah! The smug rascal!" Needle Man grumbled.

"Cool it down, Needle Man…" Yuriko sighed.

"Easier said than done!"

"Go have a battle in the stadium, then."

"Shah, shah, shah! Alright!"

"Let's hope Higure – san doesn't try to play commentator." Davis sighed.

"Huff. Let's hope that or people will think it's a weird stadium."

"By the way! That Higure _guy_! _Aniki_ got involved with the guy?"

"That was 5 year ago: Gauss wanted to play Robin Hood by taking money from rich people and giving it to poor people. He hasn't gotten Higure – san involved ever since that." Charles reminded him.

"Che. _Aniki_ is one thing, but Tesla…! That niece of mine…! She's a walking catastrophe, alright." He grumbled.

"Grumbling goes later, Count Elec! Work!" Wily ordered.

"R-roger, sir!"

"By the way…" Davis began.

"Regal? He's working efficiently and neatly: nevertheless, a minimum level of surveillance is kept on him. Just to be on the safe side. You never know: Twilight might hack the chip implant and try to use him as a distraction making us think he'd been fooling us or something like that." Wily quickly replied.

"By the way, Charles… Speaking of implants…"

"Huh? Ah. Yeah. Junior asked Dr. Lartes to remove his since it's proven to be more counter-productive than productive."

"About time… Twilight gets obsessed with hacking those to try to lead them to in-fighting or defeat."

"What the… A mail from Magnet Man! "Rot away, relic of the past forgotten by everyone!"… You lowlife!" Elec Man growled.

"_ANIKI_~!" Count Elec growled.

"Huff… WORK!" Wily yelled.

"Sheesh. Gauss is doing a damned good job at trying to stir up trouble wherever he goes to!" Charles grumbled.

"Huff. That old man…" Madoi complained.

"Someone hit him with a frying pan!" Wily fumed.

"Someone shower him with cold water… If this is a prelude of Twilight's next ploy then we're in trouble… BIG TROUBLE…!"

15:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hrah! Hah! The small fry is gone, Omega."

"Good. We only need to rendezvous with Trill and Iris and then tackle the Boss of this level, Zero."

"Perfect. By the way, I found nothing save the usual Ra's al Ghul statue surrounded by a horde of Tzar's _ninja_ sprites."

"Twilight and his mockery… The smug jerk…"

Zero and another Navi had been fighting against some Viruses hordes in a city somewhere which bore scars of war: they began to chat as they walked down a large avenue filled with abandoned cars, rubble and tossed weapons.

"And apart from that… An ugly 3D dragon colored black and purple and apparently named "Evil Dragon"… I dunno where he dug it out from but I don't care…"

"Some little-know RPG game or something which doesn't exist yet: the Spoiler Jerk…!"

Omega, the other Navi, was about one meter and eighty tall.

He wore a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots.

Two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed some annoyance which he didn't bother to restrain while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached until the floor.

"Yay! Hyper Ball! _Get_!"

"Omega – san? Zero – san? Are you there?"

"Trill and Iris? You sound close by." Zero called out.

"Yes. If we could remove the rubble blocking this alley we should be able to rendezvous."

"OK."

Both entered an alley and found a pile of rubble which were destroyed walls from the houses flanking the street: Omega drew his weapon, a pyramidal saber hilt which produced a thin pyramidal green blade of energy: he pressed a button on the hilt and it began to hum.

"HF mode activated. Step back!"

"Yay! Uncle Omega's cool sword!" A child – like voice exclaimed.

"Let's step back, Trill." A girl's voice ordered.

Omega began to swing the blade and it cut through the rubble in a neat manner: two Navis stepped forward from behind it.

"Yay! Trill caught some Viruses!"

"Well. Maybe it's better to capture and tame them than to delete them, don't you think so?"

Trill wore a yellow and white bodysuit and his emblem was blank: he had two pockets on both sides of the suit.

Two curious cone-shaped forms emerged from his helmet. He had two small spheres attached to the tips of them.

His face looked like that of 5 or 6 – years old child and he had green emerald irises.

"Guess that, Iris. Let's go find the Boss and be done with this: we've got work to do." Omega rallied.

Iris was a girl Navi: her helmet had some strange-shaped lines colored yellow atop it.

A partial mask covered her eyes, although it could be seen that their irises were colored brown.

She wore a blue sea coat and her legs were colored blue.

She also had some four pink buttons on the coat.

The only emblem she had was on the ear pads and it looked like the shape of a hand colored yellow.

"Over here. Follow us."

"Alright."

The group of four rushed down the avenue and reached what seemed to be a largely ruined government building: they stepped in and followed a trail of breadcrumbs.

"Odd. Who'd bother to program these?" Zero wondered.

"Sigma. Who else?" Omega sighed.

"Sheesh."

"Yay! Breadcrumbs!"

"Sigma – san…!" Iris muttered with some exasperation.

"I hope he didn't replace the Boss but I guess it is fat chance… What kind of parody has he come up with now?" Omega grumbled.

"Dunno and I'm not eager to know." Zero sentenced.

"Mugro~h… Me… Obelisk!"

The left wall was broken as "Giant God Soldier of Obelisk" (but reduced to 2 meters tall) came in while brandishing the fists: both Zero and Omega sighed and drew their weapons.

"Go on ahead. We'll soon catch up. And the Boss door can't be open until all players have assembled so…" Omega instructed.

"Roger." Iris nodded in understanding.

"Yay! It's gotta be the Anger God's cousin! Anger God! Descend! Mister Dragon faints! Tee, heh, heh!" Trill giggled.

"Sigma…! You tell weird things to Trill, I knew it!" Omega exasperatedly sighed.

"The moron. He never learns the lesson?"

"It's some miracle we haven't go mad already."

"Some miracle, alright."

"Me! Rule! World! Crush! Insects! God! Hand! Crusher!"

"Obelisk" flung both forearms forward but Zero and Omega dodged: they quickly stabbed their blades in the rear: a red circle was drawn there and it expanded until it the center of it vanished to reveal a tunnel apparently expanding towards the infinite: the head of "Osiris – Sky Dragon" popped out and opened its upper mouth to shoot out the electrical balls followed by the electrical blast from the lower mouth: both fighters were caught off-guard and got hit: before they could recover, though, "Obelisk" turned around and hit them with both fists thus propelling them into the adjacent room which had destroyed furniture scattered all over it: both recovered and jumped to the sides just in time to dodge another attack which shattered the outer wall and allowed one to see the lake surrounding the building 20 meters below.

"Sheesh. Sigma. You've overdone it, really. Fusing Obelisk and Osiris together…! And I'm sure that "Winged God Dragon of Ra" is also hiding inside there… What will it use next? "God Blaze Cannon"?" Omega complained aloud.

"Guess that. Or the "God Phoenix", too." Zero warned.

"The jerk…! He needs another week of shut-down!"

"I approve. Let's take care of that once we beat this thing."

"Krie~h!"

"See?" Both sighed.

"Obelisk" was surrounded in flames and ran forward but both dodged and it couldn't stop in time so it fell into the lake 20 meters below with a large plunge of water: both wasted no time in rushing further in and up the stairs until they found an opening blocked with a large padlock and a blue energy field.

"Sorry for the delay."

"Don't mind it. Trill was going over the list of captured Viruses: and my scans tell me that the flag is inside. I guess that that "collage" down there was the Boss." Iris reported.

"Good. Let's get outta here already."

"Yay!"

The padlock disappeared along with the field and they rushed into a room where they found a Mexican flag along with a bottle of Mexican Vodka in the ground: Omega groaned.

"Sheesh. Sigma's into Vincent's "show" too?"

"Yay!"

"Let's end this damned farce already."

Omega grabbed the flag and the 3D letters "GOAL" popped out of nowhere: the room became cybernetic and began to spin as they floated there: a white round shining "portal" formed and several lines of energy seemed to travel towards it: they began to hover and "fly" towards the opening.

"Yay!"

All became white and the next moment they were all standing in a room having a green matrix with black squares covering its surface: the walls were bare steel as well and it could be about 4 meters tall: a "Dimensional Area" was taking effect there and it covered the whole of the surface too: it powered off and the matrix vanished: the lights came on and a holographic results screen popped out.

"Well. Let's see."

VR SIMULATOR

MODE: CUSTOMIZER

STYLE: BATTLEFIELD

DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

TIME: 08:11

RANK: B

USERS: OMEGA, ZERO, TRILL, IRIS

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Iris' body glowed and her bodysuit vanished to reveal that she had another form.

Her normal form consisted of a one-piece dress consisting on a white skirt reaching until the knees, more or less, while the dress itself was pink in color: she sported black knee-high boots as footing.

Her eyes' irises were colored green and abundant brown hair fell down across her back until it reached the waist: two largely white flowers adorned the sides of her head.

She could be about a meter and seventy tall.

"Huff. Well. Trill. Let's go watch the cartoon."

"Yay! Cartoon!"

"See you around." Omega smiled at them.

"Stay in shape." Zero encouraged.

Once they came out of the room, Omega turned serious again and Zero nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to give Sigma some scolding myself. You go sweep another hub and see if you find anything. Maybe Twilight has turned smug enough to recycle the trick Balrog of Rama used: disguise as a regular Navi. And by that I mean that he's installed the consciousness programs of his Darkloids into those and can move them around without standing out." Omega told Zero.

"Hum. Good point. And if they mingle with crowds it'll be harder to single them out yet… Maybe Cloud Man will stand out."

"Hum. Yeah. Knowing the jerk he's surely come up with some prank or another: maybe it is mere _graffiti_ but you never know. If you hear reports of someone being struck by lightning then investigate them further: it could be nothing but, at the same time, it could be a clue."

"Roger. See you."

Zero dematerialized by turning into blocks of data which rotated anti-clockwise and then broken down into streams of data: Omega sighed and stepped out into a curved metallic corridor having doors on both sides of it, arches and fluorescent lights set in the vaulted ceiling.

"Sigma…! Messing up with the VR again…! Do you want us to end up like what happened last year's summer? It wasn't funny ending up like in the _Reboot_ TV series: trapped in a game's sprite!" He grumbled.

"…avatars of evil incarnations which…" A calm voice began to slowly announce in English through a speaker.

"And you hacked the speakers to patch us to Dragon Hell in live again as well…! Boss is gonna explode again. Damn it. It's hard enough to keep Boss cool at these times and you mess it up. Why do you need to be the onboard troublemaker?"

"DRAGON HELL!" A man's voice roared over the speakers next.

"YIKES!" "Dragon Hell" gasped.

"ANGER GOD'S COMING!" "Boss" roared.

"UWA~H!" "Dragon Hell" exclaimed out of fear.

"BY DAMNATION!"

"Boss! Calm down!" Another man warned.

"Easier said than done! Lartes! Nya~rth!"

"Shit. I've had enough of this clown show. I'm off to finding Sigma and giving the idiot a lesson!"

"By damnation! I'm fed up with this circus! SIGMA~!"

16:56 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Sigma? He was here 5 minutes ago, yes."

"Did you see where he ran off to?"

"No. But if you find him beat him from my part too."

"What did the idiot do now?"

"He sent a package to Yamitarou."

"And what was it?"

"Mujura's Mask."

"Mujura's Mask? From the N64 _Legend of Zelda_ game?"

"The same thing, alright! Yamitarou the moron fainted and Shuuko – chan now believes she's a harbinger of omens!"

"What the hell? I knew Kido was timid but… Anyway! I'll gladly beat the jerk up in your exchange. I'm fed up with the guy's meddling around: speaking of which, did Cloud Man show up here?"

"No. Else I'd already reported it to Prism Man."

"Fine."

Omega had come to Higureya in Internet City apparently looking for Sigma and Number Man explained what had happened: he looked and sounded pretty much if not totally annoyed and Omega's bad mood kept on escalating given his grimace.

"He turned off the transmitter, Commander Omega." Blood Shadow reported over the radio.

"What's the last known location?"

"The 4 – A class. In short: he turned it off before leaving."

"The fucking bully!"

"Commander Omega, sir, anger…"

"…leads to nowhere! I know! But I can't help it! The guy's gone over the edge and someone needs to show him that there's a limit to pranks and jokes! Else they get worse!" Omega snapped back.

"R-roger, sir." Blood Shadow gulped.

"Shah, shah, shah! Where's Sigma!" Needle Man ran in while looking pretty much annoyed.

"I'm looking for the fucker. What next?" Omega replied.

"He's swapped my cache Battle Chip Folder with Guts Man's Folder! I don't need 30 Vulcan Battle Chips! Sha~h!" He growled.

"By all the…!"

"Wait, wait. Couldn't this be Cloud Man? Maybe he's hacked into Sigma or something?" Yuriko suddenly suggested.

"Huh? Well… Taking into account that Twilight did hack me once… It could be, yeah." Omega realized.

"Omega? I found out that Cloud Man snuck in last night through Dragon's outdated security and uploaded himself into Sigma's body. He must've brain-jacked him." The man named Lartes reported.

"Whoa. I was right." Yuriko whistled in surprise.

"Twilight. I knew it. So that's why he's been so quiet! He was aiming to begin a civil war!" "Boss" growled.

"Shit. The last thing we need right now…! When did the swap happen, anyway?"

"11 minutes ago!" Needle Man replied.

"Someone should've spotted him: else we'll dig up sensor data. Sigma stands out so easily… Or, wait… The emergency transmitter! It should be emitting!" Omega recalled.

"Good point. I'd forgotten about it. Let's see… Aha-hah. The changing rooms of Akihara Middle School! You know: the P. E. class ones…"

"Alright. I'm getting there on the double."

Omega opened a VPN tunnel entrance and jumped inside: he flew across it and stepped out into another Cyber World where he found Sigma laying face-up on the ground, apparently unconscious, and the hologram of Darkloid Cloud Man hovering over him while grinning.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Surprised, Omega~?" He taunted.

"Sheesh. It had to be you. Fight me!"

"Not yet! But soon… Soon…" He teased.

"You'll get overshadowed by Magnet Man?"

"What! Magnet Man! You moron! Trying to overshadow me…! Just you wait!"

The hologram vanished and Omega spotted a golden sphere of energy about 30cm wide and 15cm tall which ran away while travelling across the board pathways, 2 meters away from Sigma in the NNW direction: Omega sighed and turned off the weapon.

"Lartes. Handle the retrieval. Guess Sigma's antibodies found a way to kick the guy's program outta him. I'll check out what Cloud Man did over here and then join Blood Shadow in escorting the twins." He announced over the radio.

"Roger. Emergency retrieval, on."

Sigma got warped out along with a purple flash while Omega checked the control panel and sighed.

"Rising up the temperature in the changing rooms to make everyone sweat, huh? How lame. Sheesh. When are they gonna come at us at serious mode? I hate trolls. I really do."

"Join the club." Lartes invited.

"I get the irony, Lartes, I do… Damned lot."

_Come out of hiding and face if you've got the GUTS! HMPF!_


	3. Chapter 3: Obscure Legion

**Chapter 3: Obscure Legion**

11:11 AM (Melbourne Time), Saturday September the 21st…

"… Morning, Master."

"Ah. Bapgei. You came. Good, good."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah. Something did happen."

"That which you talked about…?"

"Yeah. It's completed. Come see the results."

"Interesting."

A young man who had jet black hair and green emerald irises stepped inside of a house.

He could be around sixteen or seventeen years old.

He wore a sleeveless black vest over a long-sleeved greenish shirt plus jeans and white sneakers.

His height seemed to be about a meter and seventy tall.

"Heh, heh, heh. It took some time but the results seem to be worth it: _kyoudai_ won't see this coming! By Merton!"

"Master… Aren't ya getting cocky again?"

"Don't worry! All's under control, my fella~…"

"Huff. Another of your random moods…"

The "Master" was a man who seemed to be on his mid-twenties.

He had blonde hair and his eyes' irises were green emerald too.

He wore a black suit over a white shirt, black trousers and brown shoes.

He could be around a meter and eighty tall.

"Don't worry, don't worry… Come into the living room."

"Alright."

"Bapgei" followed "Master" into a living room which had a window looking out into a street: the living room had a sofa facing a table with a laptop atop it and a TV further in set atop a flat drawer set.

"My chums: say hi to the audience~…"

"Twilight – sama, sir…!" Freeze Man's exasperated voice replied from the laptop.

"Huff." Swallow Man sighed next.

"Lovely." Zoan Gate Man grumbled.

"The last thing we needed…" Yamato Man cursed.

"Trouble, I guess…" Cloud Man muttered.

"Of all things…" Cosmo Man resignedly muttered.

"I knew it." "Bapgei" rolled his eyes.

"Heh, heh, heh! Don't worry, Philip… It's just the good mood… It'll be gone with the wind, ya know?"

"That joke's lame, Master." Philip sighed.

"Show our fellow your newest suits designed by ZARA!"

"HUFF!"

A life-sized hologram projected and Philip whistled in surprise.

"Whoa. This armor looks cool on you, Freeze Man."

"Ahem, ahem! Yes. It's not only looks but abilities…"

This armor Freeze Man had on used black as its main color.

It included a full-head helmet with grayish patterns on it and one which formed the shape of a mouth: a nose-shaped form had also been included and it had two small slits for the eyes, which were yellow and lacked any irises.

The shoulders and neck area had some red lines drawn on them: the chest armor was eerie because it included two large yellow eyes which narrow black irises set on each side of the chest.

A white ragged and worn cloth stretched from the waist downwards but it seemed to be purely decorative.

The arms and legs were covered in sturdy and thick black armor.

The boots were colored crimson red.

He sported a large red cloak stretching behind him from the shoulder armor and until the knees' height.

As a weapon he was handling a red-bladed sword with a black hilt.

Overall he looked threatening and fearful.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Well. We know ours don't look so creepy but nevertheless…" Cloud Man laughed.

Another life-sized hologram formed: Cloud Man was using one of those armors too but the difference was that the chest armor lacked the eyes and had empty cavities instead.

"Everyone save Gate Man has been installed in these." Twilight explained with a grin.

"I see. Where'd you dig them out from?"

"Ah! Yeah, yeah… I hadn't told you yet, had I? They're from a game known as _Record of Agarest War_… A prequel to it named _Record of Agarest War Zero_ came out back in June… "Agarest" is the name of the world where these games take place… Well. So as to not to stretch it… These guys are strong servants of the Dark Side, the "Gurg"… Also called "Black Knights" from time to time… Freeze Man's design belongs to the chieftain of the "Gurg", hence the difference…" Twilight explained.

"I see. And they must be strong, right?"

"Before clearing the game, yeah, they're some of the strongest enemies and at first you aren't able to stand up to them."

"Intriguing." Philip grinned.

"And so as to keep our fellows enchanted by General Campestre glued to the screens…" He began to grin.

"Huff." Everyone sighed in defeat.

"...we'll provide some juicy and spicy action."

"Juicy and spicy action…? Jeez. Swallow me, earth." Philip sighed.

"Really…" Freeze Man sighed next.

"Ah yeah! And to make them recognizable to some degree… I've installed their Navi emblems in the forehead: see?" Twilight signaled.

"True. This way you will be able to tell the others apart: the voices and abilities should suffice but nevertheless…"

"Ahem, ahem… Zoan Gate Man!"

"Yeah, _Danna_?"

"Find Zero! And grind them to dust!"

"Delighted. Legion 64! Tell me Zero's location!"

"Metto~!"

"Hum, hum! Roaming around the Hoddle Grid, I see!"

"Hunting, eh?" Twilight snickered.

"Sure looks like it, Boss…"

"Good. Ambush the guy. Use a decoy Navi: Swallow Man, you'll provide the voice. Make it sound confident."

"Piece of a cake!" Swallow Man chuckled.

"Remote Gate!"

There was a sound and both Twilight and Philip looked at feed of Zero flying over some streets in an Internet City while dodging flying banners and ads: he seemed to be scanning the area.

"I've got a better idea: hijack those and make them attack the guy! Then the advertisers will demand that he pay a fine! Let's see how the Net Police gets him outta this pinch!" Twilight snickered.

"Oho." Philip looked slightly amused.

"Roger."

The ads and banners soon stopped following their pre-programmed courses and they flew towards Zero: he took notice and instinctively began to slice them up: the fragments fell into the ground and the Navis stopped to look and signal him.

"Heh, heh, heh. Zero~! I'm your worst nightmare: the reviewer! You get zero points in character development!" Zoan Gate Man could be seen by the camera from behind.

"There you are." Zero grumbled.

He warped and appeared in front of Zoan Gate Man while already swinging his blade but Zoan Gate Man had already jumped up into the air so Zero cut through empty space: he cursed under his breath and jumped into the air: the camera quickly switched to another some meters away that allowed them to see how Zoan Gate Man drew his Gate Cannon and began to shoot rounds at Zero who either bounced them back or dodged them: he then realized Zoan Gate Man had been using the recoil from his weapon to fly away and land into a nearby building's rooftop: Zero warped there and tried to attack from the right but Zoan Gate Man seemed to be one step ahead of him once again and jump to the adjacent building's rooftop.

"Demon Hand!"

He formed the Demon Hand and gripped a large banner with an ad of a tooth paste: he crushed it into a heap of glass, metal and other materials which he then flung at Zero: he activated his HF mode and cut it up but Zoan Gate Man used the distraction to shoot the Demon Hand and grip Zero: he growled as Zoan Gate Man chuckled and began to swing him around having him bounce off the ground.

"Become a basket-ball!" He taunted.

"Sheesh!"

He warped and Zoan Gate Man chuckled as Zero tried to cut his back with a swing but was deflected by an invisible wall: Zoan Gate Man quickly jumped into the air and formed a jet-pack to fly across the street and into the roof of a slightly taller building: Zero was struggling to make his way out of an invisible cage which had formed around him: he suddenly formed a mass of flames around his left forearm and hit the front invisible wall while pressing the forearm against it: the invisible glass soon began to melt and Zero wasted no time in rushing out and warping to appear in the rooftop Zoan Gate Man was at: he made some mock applause.

"Bravo." He mocked.

"Grhtkxhb!" He growled something undecipherable.

"Decimal's revenge~?" He taunted.

"What the hell is that?" Zero demanded.

"Ask Idea Factory."

"Idea Factory?"

"Look it up in Ms. Wikipedia's drawer full of black letters."

"How original!" He fumed.

"Huff." Philip rolled his eyes.

"Huff!" The others (save Cloud Man and Twilight) sighed.

"Mwah, hah, hah." Cloud Man laughed.

"Heh!" Twilight sneered.

"So? What are you lowlifes up to this time around? Huh?" Zero demanded next.

"Ask Ernesto."

"Who?"

"Heh, heh, heh. Dunno. It might your worst nightmare."

"Worst nightmare? Sheesh."

"Not as bad as Metroid Fusion's "Nightmare"!"

"Huff. That thing… It would've been worthy of the year's "Ugliest Monster" contest."

"Wouldn't it? Heh, heh, heh. Yo and behold! The advertising companies want ya to fix their flying banners!"

"You fix the huge banner you just crushed." Zero shot back.

"I don't need to! Heh, heh, heh!"

"Speak."

"Try to force this guy to speak, then!"

"What next?" Zero sighed.

"Hah, hah, hah, hah! I'm a joke~!"

"The Joker? Sheesh. Twilight and the guy's Bat-man Mania!"

The Joker showed up and began to laugh while making comical poses and gestures: he suddenly made the "fuck you" sign and Zero shrugged before he kicked the guy in the stomach area and quickly delivered a blow to the head with the left fist: he jumped over the KO opponent and resumed chasing Zoan Gate Man.

"Wait!"

"Who will wait when you tell them to?" He taunted back.

"Sheesh."

They resumed the chase and ended up atop a tower about 100m tall: Zoan Gate Man chuckled and drew the Gate Cannon which was frizzling with purplish energy: he shot it at the sky and it formed a purple sphere which began to frizzle: black mist began to sprout around it and quickly spread downwards while circling around the tower.

"Heh, heh, heh. If you can't beat me in less than 55 seconds then all of them down there get an HP bug which will drain 5 HP per second! Heh, heh, heh! _Time Limit_!" He announced.

"You coward!"

"Heh, heh, heh! Go! Gate Cannon!"

"Shit. I'm going to cut you up to pieces!"

"I'd like to see you trying, Major Zero."

"Sheesh."

"Will you add Giratina to your collection?"

"Don't mix me with the "Zero" guy in Movie 11 of last summer."

"Well, well. Maybe you need to use the trio of them to fight off Arceus – sama~?"

"Sheesh. I saw Movie 12, yeah, but don't bring them up."

"Bring them down, then! Only 15 seconds left!"

"Shit. You go later! Vaccine Chip!"

Zero formed a Mega Cannon and fired it at the sphere of energy: it suddenly turned white and began to glow intensely before collapsing and generating a ring-shaped shockwave which spread across the sky: the fog vanished but, suddenly, the Gate Soldiers began to attack Zero from multiple points at the same time: Zero began to try to fend them off while Zoan Gate Man gloated.

"Fool! You lowered the guard! Chance!"

"Che! You damned coward! Fight like a man!"

"And if I'm a Demon?" He laughed.

"Don't come up with loopholes next!"

"Don't worry! I'll make sure to pull the scriptwriter's ears to make sure he doesn't pull plot-holes on us!"

"I didn't mean that!"

"No, you meant to slay your vanity~…"

"How do I slay my vanity, anyway? Salamander!"

"Gate~!"

"Shit!"

Zero was surrounded in flames as he shot skywards and plunged into Zoan Gate Man's position: Zoan Gate Man was set in flames and he yelled as he ran off, chased by Zero: he dived down towards the street and his Remote Gate opened: he got inside and it vanished so Zero stopped the chase and sighed.

"Well. That should give the guy a lesson."

"I wonder 'bout that." Twilight spoke into the micro.

"Twilight. About time you showed up."

"More like about time I reminded you lot who's in charge."

"In charge of what? Of stirring up trouble?"

"Who knows?"

"Che. I'll dig your location out!"

"I wonder about that. Same trick doesn't work twice, Holmes!"

"Hmpf. Same escape doesn't work twice, Moriarty."

"Che." Twilight got annoyed.

"Ops." Philip muttered.

"When are you going to fight for real?" Zero challenged.

"When I feel like it, neo – punk."

"Aren't you Neo Gospel to begin with?" Zero reminded him.

"Sheesh. Clever meddling guy!" He cursed.

"Patent it, if you can, that is."

"Oh yeah? That a challenge, smug crimson hero~?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's as volatile as Anaya Maria's moods." Zero continued on taunting.

"IQ – sama~!" He hissed.

"I'm off before he begins throwing stuff around." Philip sighed and stood up.

"You better do." Freeze Man sighed.

"Oh? Well then! Mwah, hah, hah. Let's have some fun inventing new PKMN! Shall we, Bapgei~?" Cloud Man laughed.

"You stay here! Or else…!" Freeze Man threatened.

"YIKES!"

"I don't have time to waste chit-chatting with a Moriarty wannabe."

"A Liquid Snake wannabe!" Twilight snickered.

"Hmpf. Then I'll bring FOX-DIE along next time."

"… Heh! "Die… won't!"…!" He quoted someone.

Zero warped out of the spot and Twilight stood up while looking like he was both annoyed and exultant: Freeze Man sighed and turned off the hologram as Twilight agitated his fingers as if he wanted to strangle someone right there and then.

"HMPF! Some fresh air will do well… I've got to start planning the new campaign… Yamato Man! Summon Campaign Man."

"Twilight – sama…!" Yamato Man protested.

"Nyah, hah, hah, hah!"

Twilight ran off while the Darkloids sighed in defeat.

"When Twilight – sama gets in those moods…! Huff!" Freeze Man sighed.

09:33 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum. So Zoan Gate Man's power has increased?"

"More like the guy's brains."

"I see. He must've been equipped with a "Dark Generator" too."

"Speaking of which, Vadous…"

"Yeah? Ah! Magnet Man? Under surveillance. He hasn't moved from the Gauss Console."

"Good."

Zero had come to report to someone in a real-world place.

The room they were inside of was shaped like a dome: the ground had the general form of the Hikari emblem although the straight line and the pyramid-like bases were placed at the north and south ends instead of being in the north-west and south-east ends like in Netto's bandana.

There were two half-hexagon spots which had been built such that the ground was thirty centimeters lower and covered in a grid-like material.

The corridor was only wide enough for one person to walk through and it had a small hole from which a rail originated around the middle point of it: it extended forward until it reached the spot where the man's armchair (which had a purple Alphabet "V" drawn behind it) was at.

A closed hatch could be seen set on the ceiling directly above this middle spot.

The far end had a control console a group of 3 LCD screens set in a curved manner over the console: the room had some circular LED lights (like the ones in traffic lights) set on the walls forming figures.

"Yeah. We don't want the guy to go loose."

Zero's interlocutor was sitting in a black metallic armchair.

He looked on his mid – twenties, had messy jet black hair and red eye irises.

He wore a grayish armor made of several plates joined together of an unknown material and two swords sheaths were attached to his black belt.

His arms and legs were also covered in plating and he had boots and gloves of the same material.

A purple ragged, stained and torn cape hung from the back of the shoulders and reached all the way to the floor.

"…the Boundary Area in which Gods and Dragons and Evils reside at, out of reach of the mortals and…" Dragon Hell's voice echoed from the grids to the sides of the corridor.

"Where did he get that from?" Zero wondered.

"Dunno and I don't like to know! DRAGON!"

"YIKES!"

"The madness!" Vadous cursed.

"Calm down, man."

"Easier said than done~…!" He hissed.

"Huff. Omega?" Zero called out.

"Yeah. I'm here."

Omega stepped in using an elevator platform which climbed up a diagonal shaft: it had waist-high railings and a control panel on the left side of it: Omega stepped out and walked up to the armchair.

"Alright, alright! Calm down, Boss. We've still got the upper hand." Omega reminded him.

"For the time being!" Vadous reminded him.

"Of course. For the time being. But we'll find a way around. As always."

"As always, huh…"

"I'm going back to report to Mr. Rainon. He will try to use some connections to investigate."

"Good. Leave no stone unturned." Omega nodded in agreement.

Zero dematerialized while Vadous fumed and stood up to pace around the armchair.

"By the way! Check Dragon's security!"

"I thought Lartes had done it? He told me so."

"You never know! There might be insiders!"

"Roger. Calm down, really. Try looking up some gag or joke somewhere to cool it down, Boss."

"Fine!"

Vadous sat back on the chair and sighed: he moved it along the rail and stopped in front of the console: he began to type and stopped while frowning: he looked very suspicious of something.

"Hmmm… It won't hurt to check. Blood?"

"Yes, Boss?" Blood Shadow's face showed up onscreen.

"Scan both PETs along with Sigma. There might be something Cloud Man placed there the other day when Sigma got hijacked."

"Roger."

"Roger, Boss!" Sigma confirmed off-screen.

"And beware of your jokes, Sigma, or you know what's coming. I'm not in a good mood today, so…" He warned.

"R-roger." He gulped.

"I told ya." Blood Shadow sighed.

"Oh. Leave me alone." Sigma fumed.

"And don't start a companion dispute next."

"It wasn't my intention, sir."

"Good. Zero will drop by later on. He'll get you up-to-date."

"Understood, sir."

"Huh…? Say, Blood… Is there really a novel named "Atomic Fire" by "Atomic Satan"?" Sigma suddenly asked.

"Dunno. Why'd you ask?"

"Well. It's on the list of the guys' mandatory English books which they must read this year." Sigma replied.

"It's gotta be some parody by Cloud Man. I think it's a mockery of Atomic Network and Satan Takaisho. It'll soon be 1 year since the whole deal with Atomic Network."

"Man. Those guys were crazy, alright. I prefer the Neo Gospel jerks to those: maybe it was a good thing that they ended up blowing themselves up: saved us the trouble to keep them under check in prison…"

"Save for Plasma Man… But since he's under 24/7 surveillance and all of his battling programs and abilities were uninstalled then he poses no threat. And Twilight won't bother to help them: they were an eyesore to the guy so…" Blood Shadow shrugged.

"Good point. We should keep an eye there from time to time: Takaisho and that "Hell's Envoy" grunt were dangerous enough back then: they could come up with something. For safety reasons both were interned in different prisons to avoid contact." Vadous nodded in approval.

"Huh? Incoming call… Higure – san? What now? Hello?"

"Hello? De masu? Is Netto – kun there, de masu?"

"He's having breakfast. Is it something important or it can wait?"

"Well, de masu…"

"Yamitarou. You moron. Not again." Number Man grumbled.

"Yikes! Number Man, de masu? I thought you'd gone off, de masu!"

"That's a confession."

"N-n-no, de masu!"

"Alright, Number Man. What's the deal?" Blood Shadow sighed.

"Yeah. Something's odd." Sigma grumbled.

"Yamitarou and his useless random ideas! He now thinks Rock Man can sell his Soul Unisons as Collector Edition Chips."

"What? Oh come on!" Blood Shadow groaned.

"I thought Meijin had told ya plenty of times, didn't the guy?" Sigma sighed next.

"Huff! The Soul Unison ability is exclusive to Rock Man, Higure Yamitarou!" Vadous reminded him.

"Yikes, de masu!"

"I'm cutting it."

"W-wait…!"

There was a click sound and the call ended: the three of them sighed in defeat.

"Man. Higure – san… Try not to scare customers off with your weird desktop dances before we begin to talk about selling Collector Edition Chips... Shall we?" Blood Shadow sighed.

"Charles did tell me he tried to have him sell those golden-colored powered-up Battle Chips, too…" Vadous muttered.

"You haven't had to stand the guy's random ideas almost every day during these last 4 years, Boss." Sigma warned.

"Yeah. Guess I should be glad of it, seeing how things are like. Don't lower the guard and scan every nook and cranny."

"Acknowledged." Both confirmed.

Vadous ended the transmission and tuned in some music while whistling it himself: he seemed to pretend he was playing a piano.

_Well. Twilight. Show me your moves. I'll counter all of them! Hah!_


	4. Chapter 4: Sengoku

**Chapter 4: Sengoku**

08:11 AM (Japan Time), Sunday September the 22nd…

"… Well, well, well."

"What's up, Charles?"

"My successor, Digital Snatcher Ryuuto, makes his debut! About time, eh, Mr. Author?"

"What's with that joke? Sheesh. I'm Martin Blackdesu, not Ryuuto. And you aren't Leo."

"Golden Leo!"

"Golden Leo?"

"Huff."

"Heh, heh, heh. The _Sheriff_ says there'll be a brawl in a _saloon_. My landing instinct tells me so!"

"Lander. Not you too."

"Auppp!"

"Rush? Why are you here?"

"He says Mr. Author wrote him there."

"Sheesh."

Charles had met with someone in a café's outdoor terrace: both were sitting opposite each other while sharing a table and drinks: these drinks were a glass of orange juice and a glass of water: Rush was there too.

"So? Are you going to let me tell you the results of my post-investigation in Melbourne?"

"Sure, Martinson."

"Not again!"

"Charles. Quit kidding around. It's getting tiresome."

The other guy, Martin Blackdesu, looked around a bit younger than Charles by one or two years and shorter by about 4 to 5 centimeters.

He had unkempt reddish hair and brown eye irises which currently depicted slight annoyance.

He sported a golden-colored sleeveless vest which was open and he had a black t-shirt underneath it

He also wore blue jeans with a modern-looking double-row belt.

He had an arm strap for a Link PET on his right arm: the Link PET was colored in camouflage colors.

Its emblem was a skull colored black and with blue eyes set against a silver background.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's go shake the rocks." Martin's Navi laughed inside the PET.

"What's the point of that, Lander?" He sighed.

Lander came out from the PET.

He wore a Mexican-style hat over his brown dust – colored helmet which also had some random blue and black dots scattered around it: his eyes' irises were brown.

His main body was colored navy blue and he had an open blackish vest over the torso: he exhibited a _Sheriff_'s star on the right side of his torso which glowed.

His shoulders were anatomically correct and they had brass plating.

The arms' length and the elbows were colored brown too and his forearms were green with two orange circling bands on them: his wrists had metallic bracelets on them.

He sported a black leather belt with two Colt revolvers on it along with bullets on his waist.

His legs were also colored brown.

He had jeans over them which ended at the start of his boots.

The boots were colored black: they had blue and brown dots across them.

"Anyway! Well. The results of my analysis of sudden route-jumps and of unidentified traffic around the area are these: Gate Man warped to the Rialto Towers but then materialized and used stealth camouflage to get to wherever Twilight's house is at." Martin explained.

"Hum. Is there anything special in those towers? Some government office, maybe?" Charles turned serious.

"Well… There's a popular observation deck but it's scheduled to be shut to become a restaurant in some months' time… It's one of the tallest buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, too."

"Or maybe there's not a specific reason why he picked that place: maybe it's a red herring. The guy could've materialized and get to a nearby access point to pick another lane and register under another ID so that we wouldn't be able to follow the transit. The whole tracing led us to a PC in an office located in floor 33." Lander detailed.

"Anything odd there?" Davis asked next.

"At a first glance? No, nothing. We didn't want to be noticed, either, so we did a very quick investigation. We didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, so…" Martin admitted.

"Hum. So it could very well be a red herring…"

"There were traces of several insiders having been slipped into random computers spread all across the building. Maybe they use it as an escape point because there are a lot of sub-lanes inside and in office days there'd be a lot of incoming and out – coming traffic. It would do well to mingle amongst the crowds to give any chase the slip."

"Aha – hah. So that's why they bothered to pick that place. Oh well: we could manipulate those insiders to tell us whenever any of the Neo Gospel dudes showed up there. It'd help us give us an idea of how they move around." Charles shrugged.

"Good idea."

"By the way, did you hear?" Charles giggled.

"What." Martin got annoyed.

"Miss Heiress' newest invention…"

"What did she come up with this time around?" He sighed.

"Anti-Competency Mowers!"

"What the hell are those?"

"Your worst nightmare: the critics!" Lander laughed.

"Sheesh." Davis sighed.

"It materializes, yells, and chases you for 1024 meters!"

"Why 1024 meters? One kilometer is 1000 meters."

"Guess she messed it up with the Kilo Byte, which is 1024 Bytes." Charles laughed.

"Huff. The last thing we needed. The madness is coming back. I'm off before I go mad." Martin sighed.

"Heh, heh, heh. Beware of stalking females."

"If you mean Ursula Magden, her dad relocated her to the SAS and is keeping an eye on her. The gal… She lived in another world! She began to say that the Choina hackers were the Desert Wraiths and that Rama was an Indian-based gang and that they'd all been arrested."

"Man. She really didn't know anything and tried to play the smart gal plus stalker… Huff. Didn't you say the conflict between your families over some terrains had been settled long ago?"

"Yeah. 60 years ago, in 1949! But the gal was STUBBORN. Sheesh."

"Man." Davis sighed.

"Come on, fellow! Bright it up! _Check it out_!"

"If only it were so easy, Charles…"

"What's with your step-brother as of late?"

"Ayase? Studying, of course. He got good grades."

"Did he report anything odd?" Charles asked.

"No. Why should he?"

"Maybe I'm being paranoid, but wouldn't it be wise to keep an eye around from time to time? I don't think Twilight would target him again but you never know the rascal." Charles warned.

"Good point."

"But don't fret him out, either." Davis pointed out.

"Don't worry. We'll just send an agent to have a look around and check if there are any police reports of odd happenings. It might be in vain but you know the motto: better to prevent than to heal."

"Yeah. That's true." Martin nodded in agreement.

"As true as TRUE ENDING!" Lander laughed at his own poorly improved joke.

"Sheesh. That wasn't half-funny to begin with, Lander."

"Did ya say somethin', Perkins?"

"I give up."

"Don't be so defeatist, man!" Charles encouraged.

"Were it so easy…" He rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Lander… Don't go over the edge too. We've had enough bearing Sigma, Cloud Man and Shadow Man." Davis scolded.

"Don't worry~! I'm under the edge!"

"Lovely." Davis sighed in defeat.

"Heh, heh, heh! Let's go, Perkins! To raid Fort Apache we go~!"

16:36 PM (Japan Time)…

"… And I hope that this was enough of a lesson for you."

"Huff. My mood is gone. Totally."

"About time."

"I don't want to go through that twice! For a moment I thought I'd been deleted all along and I'd been having a dream!"

"That wasn't the intention."

"Huff. Miyabi… What happened while I was napping?"

"No big deal. Gate Man showed up to challenge Zero and got pounded yesterday in Melbourne… Blackdesu figured out the spot they use to shake off their pursuers but he got no further."

Dark Miyabi was talking to Shadow Man as he walked down a street in a city somewhere: Shadow Man looked serious but sounded defeated, for once: Miyabi wasn't surprised.

"Hmpf… Mere small fry… I'm eager to take on some bigger fry…"

"You called?" Someone asked.

"Huh? What? Who's that? Some Darth Vader wannabe?"

"What's the matter, Shadow Man?" Miyabi asked.

"Some punk snuck inside the PET, Miyabi."

"Hum. Some punk, alright." He drily muttered as he looked at something past Shadow Man.

"It's been a while, _ronins_!"

"You're not that Ronin Man guy who worked for Rama."

"Don't you know any other Sengoku-themed Navis?"

"Yamato Man? What's with that armor thing?"

"That's Yamato Man?" Miyabi looked surprised.

"Heh, heh, heh. We've become Neo Gospel's Obscure Legion!"

"Obscure Legion, huh." Shadow Man wasn't impressed.

He'd already gripped the hilt of his _katana_ and looked ready to draw it out and start fighting Yamato Man (who was installed in one of those new bodies and gripped his spear with the right hand): Yamato Man sounded amused and cocky.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'll drown you into "Dark"!"

"Try it." Shadow Man challenged as he drew the _katana_.

"Delighted! Thousand Spear!"

"Shadow Blade!"

Both began to attack each other: Shadow Man's strikes hit some spots of Yamato Man's body but he didn't seem to mind them: Yamato Man quickly began to spin his spear to deflect the incoming attacks and began to yield terrain: Shadow Man looked mistrusting and stepped back but something beneath his feet exploded and he was sent flying: he landed on his back with a THUD and Yamato Man suddenly jumped into the air and dived towards him while aiming the spear at his chest: Shadow Man fumed and there was a cloud of smoke as he was replaced by a log: Yamato Man's spear got stuck there and he growled while trying to pull it out: Shadow Man re-appeared behind him and quickly began to hit his back but he didn't seem to get anywhere.

"A mine." Miyabi calmly guessed.

"And _behind_ me. I clearly thought he was yielding to lure me forward and make me step into it. I guess they haven't been wasting the time. But this armor IS thick. My _katana_ alone won't suffice to deal with it."

"Maybe if you activated the HF mode?"

"Forgot you'd added that… Worth a try… Let's go, Yamato Man!"

"Hra~h!"

"Come!"

Yamato Man retrieved the spear and rushed for Shadow Man: his blade began to hum and he hit the right shoulder-armor: the blade cut it in two and exposed the body-armor beneath it: Yamato Man gasped and didn't seem to expect that.

"Damn. I forgot about the HF mode. We'll need to reinforce the armors or else we won't last long." He growled.

"Don't get confident, Shadow Man. This guy could be luring you into a trap for all we know."

"Alright."

"Hah! A trap indeed! Dark Generator: On!"

"Shit."

An amplified sound of heartbeats rang out and Yamato Man's figure was surrounded by purple light: he chuckled and he suddenly built up energy before running forward and body-tackling Shadow Man: the impact sent him flying but he managed to warp while he was flying across the air and land behind Yamato Man: he quickly swung the sword and across the rear armor to open a small opening: he plunged the _katana_ inside but he was deflected by something inside and Yamato Man turned around while starting to thrust his spear: Shadow Man barely managed to block them and was forced to yield terrain.

"Fool! Did you really think we'd let our Dark Generators be so easy to take out? Did you think we've learnt nothing of what happened the last summer in the DNN Studios? Fool!"

"Sheesh."

"Now! Let us settle the score!"

"Fine! Same wish over here!"

"Don't get clouded, Shadow Man."

"I'll try to."

"Don't "try": just go for it." Miyabi corrected.

"Roger."

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's go! Dark Punch!"

Yamato Man built up energy on his left forearm and rushed forward: he punched Shadow Man's stomach area and the blow momentarily stunned Shadow Man: Yamato Man began to land blows from the spear there and Shadow Man got replaced by another tree log: the spear got stuck there again and Shadow Man tried to drive his _katana_ inside through the rear slit but got bounced off again yet the repulsing force seemed to be weaker this time around.

"The protection got somewhat weakened."

"This is as far as you get! Hra~h!"

Yamato Man freed the spear, turned around, and suddenly lifted it to then plunge it towards the ground: Shadow Man tried to deflect it with his _katana_ but he wasn't fast enough and the spear got stuck atop his right foot: Shadow Man winced from the pain but quickly hit the neck armor: Yamato Man gasped as Shadow Man quickly cut downwards across the chest armor, opening a gap on it and revealing the less thick body-armor beneath: pulsating and expanding round waves of energy could be seen forming there: Yamato Man suddenly chuckled and Shadow Man gasped as the pulsations got faster.

"Hra~h!"

"Damn. I don't like the looks of this. Shadow…!"

"Slow! Dark Twin!"

"Grua~h!"

"Shadow Man!"

The energy surrounding Yamato Man suddenly "detached" and "moved" in front of him to then gain the shape of his armor: this "twin" exploded and the shockwave pushed Shadow Man away: Miyabi called out as a blinding white flash emerged from the screen and forced him to look elsewhere.

"The final blow! Hra~h!"

CLANG!

"Mugro~h… You'll have to get past me firstly, ugly!"

"You lowlife… A member of "Rama"! Balrog…!"

"What!"

Miyabi gasped because a new Navi had shown up on the scene.

This Navi looked around two meters tall.

His head was shaped like a demon's with two blackish horns and reddish eye irises as well as sharp teeth: it was protected by a mail around the whole of its volume.

His body was colored red and had black metallic armor with purple diagonal patterns over the surface.

Two small wings with armor over it came out from behind him as well as a tail with a purple flame on it.

His hands and feet ended in sharp claws.

Purple flames surrounded his body.

He was wielding a wrecking ball and a large sharp lance filled with red thorns all over its surface.

His mere presence radiated an intense heat wave.

"I heard there was a brawl here so I kept an eye from afar in case you tried to play dirty… And my hunch was correct! Fight me if you've got the GUTS to, rascal! The drums of Khazad-dûm are ringing! My soul's burning! Bring it on, twerp!" Balrog challenged.

"Yamato Man! You're not in a condition to engage such an opponent: pull back immediately!" Freeze Man commanded over the radio.

"Huh! Roger! You were lucky, Shadow Man!"

"So it'd seem."

A Remote Gate opened behind Yamato Man and he jumped inside before it disappeared: Balrog helped Shadow Man get to his feet: he had a lot of wounds and some had begun to leak data, even.

"Shadow Man. Stay still: we're going to the Science Labs to have those wounds dealt with."

"Fine. At least now we know what they're up to."

"Is your Operator around, Balrog?"

"Past? Yeah! Oi! Past. Whaddya think?"

His Operator's screen opened but it only displayed someone having a bike helmet on colored red and white and with the _kako_ (Past) _kanji_ set on the forehead using blood red color.

"Well. The HF mode won't work next time around. It'll be a matter of endurance and trying to improve the output of our attacks if we want to lay a dent on those bodies."

"I think they're mostly empty and they only have the "Dark Generator" which itself is a "Dark Ultimate Program": the Navi's consciousness resides in the head area. So I think that, in essence, they don't feel pain. That's a point we should be careful about." Shadow Man summed up.

"Good points. Did you hear that, Balrog?"

"Mugro~h! I sure did. Man. Guess ramming and such won't work just like that… We need to use the head… And boil our brains! Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" He laughed at his improved joke.

"Do as you like…" "Past" sighed.

"Let's go, Shadow Man."

"Alright. Could you be on your way back? I'll have to improve my PET's security." Shadow Man sighed.

"Roger! Let's boil some goblins!"

"Will you be quiet for a change?"

17:38 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well, well!"

"You look in a good mood."

"Isn't it obvious, Felicia? We're going to have some tea at Nelaus – kun's place."

"Ah. Of course. I thought it was next weekend."

"My, my. Tamashita. Been a while~…"

"Who…? Oh heck. Ex – _senpai_? What the heck are ya doing here?"

"Tee, heh, heh."

"Kataka Vanessa."

"That's a gal's name!"

Aura (wearing a reddish long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved opened track-suit colored navy blue, a knee-long purple skirt, blue wool socks and white sneakers) had been walking down a street and talking in an animated manner with Felicia when someone called out to her: she stopped and looked at the right: she immediately got annoyed.

"Answer my question."

"To remind you who's in charge~?"

Kataka Vanessa was a girl around Aura's age and maybe 7 or 8 centimeters taller.

She had long black hair which reached until mid-way along the neck and blue eye irises: she had a smug smile on.

She wore an open brown leather jacket, a gray wool shirt, a mini-skirt colored purple and black leather boots.

"In charge of what? I'm not your _kouhai_ (junior) anymore." Aura reminded her.

"Too bad."

"Oh yeah? You had that same look the whole time: like a hyena waiting to feast on carrion. Or a vampire waiting for a chance to plunge its fangs into my neck." She fumed.

"Yeah, yeah!" Felicia added.

"My. What compliments."

"I know that you're a _yuri dominatrix_ "queen": you yourself boasted about it from time to time and I know that the "parties" you set up in your house when your parents weren't there were actually orgies. You brought in juniors and forced them to take part in your caprices. This much I found out after I pulled some favors to investigate you recently." Aura explained while having a scowl on her face.

"Bravo, my dear. By the way. Did your boyfriend break the vase of flowers you brought along when you moved?"

"Who knows? Do you need to know that to survive?"

"My. What moods."

"HMPF!" Felicia fumed.

"I've got the perfect medicine for ya." Aura grinned.

"Oh?" She lifted the right eyebrow.

"Felicia!"

"Roger! Anti – Competency Mower, On!"

"W-what?"

A small-scale lawn mower materialized in the air: it didn't have a bag or the handle but it did have two short wings with miniature plane engines underneath them: it also included a tail with a third engine and two extendible arms with rotating blades on them: a Halloween pumpkin face had been painted on the front of it as well.

"W-what in the…?"

"ENZA~N! YA ASKED FOR IT! GABCOM WILL MINCE IPC! NYA~RTH!"

The machine hummed and it projected a hologram of an "annoyed face" emotion-icon: it then roared and spread the arms as if it was defying the opponent: Kataka had begun to step back and began running away as the thing howled and chased after her.

"I'M SO GONNA TURN YA INTO A NEO-PUNK!" Yaito's pre-recorded voice proclaimed.

"KYA~H!" Kataka shrieked in fear.

"DON'T RUN, NO! THERE'S NO RUNNING AWAY FROM _ME_~!"

"SOMEONE SAVE ME~!"

"ENZA~N! YA WERE ASKING FOR IT! NYAH, HAH, HAH!"

"Flee, foul one." Aura muttered with some satisfaction.

"And don't come back. Ever. Again." Felicia snickered.

Aura resumed walking while humming a tune and reached Nelaus' house: she rang the bell and Nelaus opened.

"Hi." He greeted.

"Hi, _darling_!"

"Please…" He chuckled.

"Is the tea ready?"

"Sure. Come in."

"Thanks."

Aura stepped in and switched her sneakers for the slippers: her PET pinged and Felicia nodded while looking satisfied: Aura blinked the right eye in complicity and they walked into the living room: she sat on the sofa on the north wall while Nelaus sat in the armchair on the south wall: there was a tray with a teapot and two teacups set there: Nelaus served the tea and both picked their cups: they sipped a bit.

"You look in a good mood."

"Oh yeah. Yaito – san's mower turned out to be practical: it helped get rid of an annoying gal."

"Man. It really works?" Isaac whistled in surprise.

"Yes! It does! Hear to it!" Felicia giggled.

"ENZA~N! YA ASKED FOR IT! GABCOM WILL MINCE IPC! NYA~RTH! I'M SO GONNA TURN YA INTO A NEO-PUNK! DON'T RUN, NO! THERE'S NO RUNNING AWAY FROM _ME_~! ENZA~N! YA WERE ASKING FOR IT! NYAH, HAH, HAH!" Yaito's voice exclaimed.

"Devil!" Nelaus was startled.

"Heck. Anyone who heard that would run off." Isaac cursed.

"Sure. The gal who tried to annoy me ran away before Yaito – san could turn her into a neo-punk. Tee, heh, heh."

"Who the hell helped her come up with that?" Isaac sighed.

"Sigma. Who else? Shadow Man was detained until today."

"Sigma… Sheesh."

"Sigma – san is a troublemaker, yeah. But sometimes he contributes with bright ideas." Felicia giggled.

"Bright ideas? No way." Isaac sighed again.

"Auppp!" Rush showed up behind him.

"What? The battle of a while ago? They told me already. Go tell someone else. And next time knock before entering, Rush!" He scolded.

"Rush – chan! Don't come in just like that." Felicia scolded next.

"Rush… When will ya learn some manners?" Nelaus wondered.

"When he finds his fated love~?" Aura made up a joke.

"Oh come on. Aura – chan! Give us a break!"

The girls giggled while the guys sighed in defeat…


	5. Chapter 5: Science

**Chapter 5: Science**

08:48 AM (Japan Time), Monday September the 23rd…

"… Meijin – san?"

"_San wa iranai_. What's up, Obihiro – kun?"

"The new program's simulation results…"

"Ah! I was waiting for these!"

"Ya were waiting for ya girlfriend, Meijin – sama~?"

"Kodo! Get back to work!"

"Heh, heh, heh!"

"Kodo – san. I read your profile."

"E~H?"

"It strikes as suspicious that, with such qualifications, you got here."

"This Oni – chan!"

"Obihiro, sir. Obihiro Shun, sir."

"Yeah? Some Frankenstein wannabe?"

"Kodo! Take that back! Or I'll call Hikari – hakase!"

"YIKES!"

"The madness…! I should've put on my ear-plugs."

"Go back to the lab: I'll solve this somehow."

"Roger."

Meijin had been sitting in one of the chairs in a hall of the Science Labs and going over some documents when a young researcher brought him some printed documents.

This researcher, Obihiro Shun, could be about 10cm shorter in height than Netto and the others but nevertheless over a meter and sixty tall by now.

His hair was gray in color and was slightly combed yet it had a rather uncared for look: his eyes' irises were brown.

He wore a lab coat over a cyan top with a hood, blue jeans and white / red sneakers.

Another researcher had begun to pull a joke on Meijin but Obihiro directed a dull glare at him: the guy got annoyed, Meijin got annoyed and Obihiro sighed: he quickly got away.

"What's this ruckus?"

"Another prankster, I take it."

"Hmmm? Ah. Charles – kun. Welcome."

"Who's that? The vocalist of some punk rock band?" Kodo laughed.

"… Did ya say SOMETHING?" Charles directed a murderous glare at the guy.

"KYA~H! MOMMY~!"

"By all the… What's with the background checks, the interviews and tests of ability? Why do they fail to detect these guys?" Davis asked.

"Shaha~h!" Meijin growled something undecipherable.

"Guess they aren't strict enough. Oh well. Did you figure out anything from the data Martin sent you, Meijin?"

"Huh? Ah. No. Nothing new. Sadly enough."

"What about the insiders?"

"We tuned 3 of them but, insofar, none of them have dropped by that tower. Maybe they wanted to set up a huge red herring to begin with and make us focus our attention there."

"Meijin – san?" Obihiro walked out of the lab.

"What's up? And! _San wa iranai_!"

"Yes, sir. Mr. Colonel is there, sir, and would like to talk with you, sir."

"Colonel? Alright. I'm going there."

Meijin left while Obihiro took out some chewing gum and began to chew it as he walked past Charles (who'd begun to check some of the documents Meijin had left on the chair) while heading for a nearby bathroom: there was the sudden sound of a gong ringing out.

"Found ya! College of Charleston!"

"Sheesh. Swallow Man! AGAIN!" Davis grumbled.

"What happened to our firewall?" Charles sighed.

"It'd seem he's copied Lander's ID." Davis cursed.

Charles turned on the holographic screen to see Swallow Man (clad in the armor body) standing behind Davis: he had his sword drawn and was holding it parallel to his body: Davis drew two golden-colored Long Sword Battle Chips while Swallow Man lifted his.

"This time around I'm gonna beat ya to a pulp!"

"We'll see about that."

"Heh, heh, heh. Swallow Cutter! And… Hrah!"

Swallow Man formed the "Swallow Cutter" and shot it at Davis who easily cut it in half using the right sword: he brought up the left one to block the incoming attack from Swallow Man's sword and they began to struggle in the deadlock: Davis added the right sword and began to slowly push Swallow Man back.

"You look like some Sauron wannabe." He taunted.

"Guess that. Blame Ernesto."

"Who?"

"Your worst nightmare: the nobleman!"

"What does a nobleman have to do with me? I'm from Ameroupe!"

"Maybe he sentenced your ancestor to the gallows?"

"Sheesh." Charles grumbled.

"Let's go! Dark Generator: On! Hrah!"

Swallow Man turned on his "Dark Generator" and Davis cursed under his breath because the sudden strikes forced him to yield terrain: he turned on his Float Shoes and suddenly floated some distance away: Swallow Man's next attack only swung the air and he lost balance, falling into the ground and triggering a hidden Giga Mine: the blow propelled Swallow Man upwards and he ended up face-up on the floor: he growled and managed to get up somehow but he was suddenly met with two rounds of golden-colored Mega Cannons which hit his chest full-on and made him recoil: Davis bombarded him with two golden-colored Vulcan Battle Chips next and kept on pushing him back.

"Careful, Davis. The guy could be luring you to a trap." Charles whispered to him.

"Roger."

"Heh, heh, heh… A trap indeed! You're already inside of it!"

Davis gasped because he suddenly crashed against something invisible and a glass cage formed around him: he grumbled as Swallow Man chuckled and seemed to gloat about it.

"Screen Divider!"

"Wha?"

A green stream of energy split into two and hit the left wall of the cage, shattering it: Colonel rushed in and Swallow Man growled under his breath.

"Who the hell are ya?" He demanded.

"Colonel." He merely replied.

"Shit. Where'd this guy come out from and why didn't Twilight – sama tell me anything?" Swallow Man complained aloud.

"Ask your intelligence. Davis!" Colonel taunted.

"Alright! Program Advance! Justice Vulcan, Triple Slot In! Golden Vulcan!"

Davis formed the Mugen Vulcan Program Advance colored golden and began to bombard Swallow Man with rounds while Colonel got behind him and faced south with the sword drawn: he narrowed his eyes and quickly used his built-in saber to block an incoming invisible attack as Swallow Man was surrounded by a cloud of dust formed by the impacts of the PA's rounds: Colonel drew a Tank Cannon on his left forearm and quickly took aim.

"Colonel Cannon!"

The blast hit the invisible attacker and made them recoil while shattering some device on their chest: the stealth camouflage faded to reveal Swallow Man, who was grumbling.

"I see. He pulled a _bunshin_ on me." Charles realized.

"Copying Shadow Man, huh? You guys never learn how to be original, do you?" Davis taunted.

"Sheesh."

"Want more? I'll give you plenty. Colonel Army!"

Several Stone Cubes fell in a formation around them and some small soldier-shaped Navis with brown clothes and helmets popped up from them after shedding camouflage covers: they opened fire with RPG launchers and hit Swallow Man from several angles at the same time while piercing his armor as well.

"Armor-piercing rounds." Colonel calmly announced.

"Fuck. Who the hell carries those around?"

"Me. Because I'm a Navi of the Ameroupe Army."

"WHAT? You're a military Navi?" Swallow Man gasped.

"Indeed."

"Fuck. The last thing we needed. Now the Ameroupe Army too…!"

"It's too late to regret it. I've been investigating you lowlifes for a while already, anyway. By the way: I was the one who located the Desert Wraiths' base and I leaked the location to the Net Saviors."

"Shit." Swallow Man cursed.

"Allow me." Davis requested.

"Of course. This one's your rival, so… Settle the score. I'll be on the lookout for any other tricks."

"Roger. Oi. Swallow maniac! Time to settle the score!"

"Sheesh! FINE! I'll bury you myself! Let's go! Dark Twin!"

Like what Yamato Man had done the other day, Swallow Man split the energy from his frame and created a body of energy right in front of him: it rushed towards Davis but he snickered: the enemy suddenly fell into an invisible hole and vanished: Swallow Man gasped but didn't see the energy body falling from nowhere in the sky: it hit Swallow Man and the contact produced a brutal explosion which blinded the area but Davis was already shielded with a Dream Aura Battle Chip.

"Ougrwa~h!"

When the brightness faded, there was a crater where Swallow Man had been at and some pieces of armor which had apparently been broken from the explosion: Swallow Man himself was nowhere to be seen so it could be assumed that he'd fled.

"How did you do it?" Colonel asked with a hint of curiosity.

"I've got a special Battle Chip: Monolith. It's a time-space warp device which can be set anywhere and can be turned invisible: as long as you specify beforehand where the exit will be then you can travel to anywhere, undetected, through secondary lanes. I set one on the floor which was the entrance and another on the sky which was the exit: the enemy fell into an endless shaft and ended up in the sky." He detailed.

"Hum. Interesting. Use their petty tricks against them… I'm surprised you guessed where the mine was at."

"We had a mine detector ready." Charles admitted.

"Good. You can't be confident with such creeps roaming loose."

"It would seem that something has happened. Has not it?"

"Xon' Edos? Been a while."

"Indeed. I have been analyzing data."

A Navi hovered into the area (which was part of the Science Labs' Cyber World because the fight had moved out to there).

He looked about a meter and eighty tall and bronze was the main color of his body with some white spots.

The drawing of a planet was engraved on his helmet's forehead.

His eyes' irises were purple and looked calm.

He had two triangular wings (currently folded) with grooves drawn on it and colored bronze.

These same grooves repeated on the rest of his body.

He didn't have any emblems on his chest or in the helmet's ear pads

"Well. Neo Gospel got those armors from somewhere and they seem to aim to renew their tactics."

"Neo Gospel?" Someone asked.

"Yeah, Laser Man."

Laser Man stepped in and looked at the crater: his Operator screen opened and it displayed Dr. Regal.

"I heard that there was some ruckus here and it turns out it was Neo Gospel… They never learn to stay quiet, do they?"

"Of course not." Davis sighed.

"Speaking of which… Do you have the means to contact "Priest"?"

"Huh? Ah! Yes, I do. Why?"

"I think that they're toying with anti-matter." Charles let out.

"Anti-matter?" Everyone else gasped.

"It picked me: that the mere contact with that energy body would cause such an explosion… And we'd never seen such a phenomenon before, either… The "Dark Generator" didn't behave like that before: I think they've copied the concept of associating "Dark" to anti-matter like Annihilator Man does… If it's Twilight… The guy should be able to come up with that." Charles exposed.

"Devil. Hence why you wanted to contact him… We'll need their collaboration given how they're experts in the handling and production of anti-matter…"

"No good." Xon' Edos grimly muttered.

"What, your "Creators" toyed with anti-matter as a war weapon too?"

"Sadly enough… yes. That was about… hum… 2 centuries before they created "Duo"… There was a revolt in one region: and a general decided to test out a "clean bomb" to try to intimidate them… But the bomb got out of control and instead of just destroying the base it was supposed to destroy… It vaporized the nearby lake as well… And it was 30 kilometers wide!" He detailed.

"By all the…" Everyone cursed.

"I know this because it is in our programming to review our history and see what we did wrong, how it could have been done instead, and to make sure the same mistake would not happen again."

"Wise thinking!" Dr. Regal muttered.

"Hell. It reminds me of Dan Brown's _Angels & Demons_. To sum it up for you, Xon' Edos… A terrorist steals an experimental anti-matter container with 24-hour battery and with enough anti-matter inside, which, if released, could destroy a good chunk of a city. And thus a mad chase to figure out the location of it begins."

"By the stars!" Xon' Edos cursed, for once.

"I know. Luckily enough, anti-matter is limited to Cyber World experiments as of now. And I don't think Twilight will sell it out like that: with some luck the guy feels prideful about it and won't let anyone else make use of it…" Davis sighed.

"Let's hope that!" Meijin (who'd returned) cursed aloud.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! I'm Summeril! The Obscure Demon King! The one who shall wrap the world in "Dark"!" A voice rang out.

"I dunno where the rascal picked that from and I don't need to know to begin with."

"_Agarest Senki_." Obihiro suddenly announced.

"Record of Agarest War? What's that? A game?" Charles asked.

"Yeah. Developed by Idea Factory and Red Entertainment… It's the typical adventure RPG with turn-based battles… The first game came out 2 years ago and the second, a prequel, in June… Summeril is one of the main enemies in both games… And the ruler of the "Gurg"… In short: those black knights…"

"So that's where the rascal got the design from." Davis shrugged.

"Yeah. Those are some of the strongest enemies before clearing the game and they have relevance in the story so…"

"Fine. No need to know anymore…"

"Roger. I'll be on my way back."

"Fine. I'll get in contact with "Priest" and Annihilator Man. Let's go, Laser Man… Every minute counts." Dr. Regal commanded.

"As you command, sir."

"I shall go back to my ship. I better reinforce security: I do not want those ones stealing any data about anti-matter." Xon' Edos announced.

"Good. Handle that front: and we better keep this under wraps. Or else panic will ensue." Meijin warned.

"Roger, sir." Obihiro acknowledged.

"I've got no problem with that. I'll tell Barrel – sama but we won't report it to the Army." Colonel nodded in agreement.

"Hum… We'll just say it's a bomb-installed _bunshin_ and that's all." Charles told them.

"Good idea. Let's march, Charlie~ Team."

"Dave~… I'm HAL's twin bro… I want my 666 Bytes back!"

"Oh come on." Davis sighed.

"Along with my 444 Mega Bytes!"

"Jeez."

"My 222 Giga Bytes!"

"Charles!"

"Plus my 111 Tera Bytes!"

"Are you done?" Davis sighed.

"Yeah. Let's go snatch apples from the hands of evil!"

"What nonsense is that…?"

"My newest catchy motto which I'll publish in Twitter!"

"Huff! Do as you like. I give up." Davis slapped his forehead in exasperation.

"Heh, heh, heh. Don't be so fast to give it up, Dave~!" Charles encouraged him.

"You're one to talk, Charlie~ Team!" Davis scolded.

"Now, now. Cool it down, guys." Meijin tried to calm them down.

"Don't worry, Mr. Glasses! All's under control!"

"Save me the nicknames, Charles – kun! Sheesh!"

18:28 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Welcome! Oh! The usual customer."

"Yeah, it's me, Number Man. Did somethin' amusin' happen?"

"Amusing? More like ridiculous."

"Whoa. Don't get annoyed, man. I didn't want to offend ya."

"I know you didn't, Destruction Man, but you haven't known my Operator for 5 years."

"Guess I should consider myself lucky."

A Navi had come to Higureya and began to talk with Number Man, who quickly got annoyed.

The Navi, Destruction Man, looked close to a meter and eighty tall.

Black shades similar to Blues' own design hid his eyes but his mouth denoted seriousness.

A matrix of nine red spots was set on his forehead.

He had a robot-like designed given his metallic blue and silver armor pieces all over his body.

His armor included a belt while his legs had jets attached to them from behind.

His left arm ended in knife-like fingers and his right arm had an incorporated missile launcher on top of the right palm holding up to 10 missiles.

His body had brown-colored energy conduits which seemed to originate from the chest emblem.

His emblem (the _Kanji_ _hakai_ (destruction) colored metallic gray and drawn over an azure background) was set on the center of his armor.

"VERY LUCKY!" Number Man grumbled.

"Whoa. Calm down, man."

"Is there some problem, Destruction Man?"

"Nothin', Future! It's just Number Man's annoyance."

"No wonder. Seeing the comments during your match with one of the Military Crush Brothers…"

The Operator's window opened: Future sported a biker's helmet with the _Kanji mirai _(future) colored fuchsia imprinted on the forehead.

"DE MASU~! I'm lucky, Number Man, de masu!"

"Why's that, Yamitarou?" He sighed.

"Miyuki – san told me I have stepped into the dawn of a new age! DE MASU~!"

"What nonsense is that? I'm sure she told you something grim and you flipped it." He grumbled.

"Past did say that that Miyuki gal had a glare which could kill: she looked very cold and impersonal." Future muttered.

"Looks like it."

"And Saloma – san gave me a bouquet of roses! De masu!"

"I'm sure she didn't give you anything to begin with."

"And I placed a curse on Commander Beef! De masu!"

"How do you place a curse if they don't exist, anyway?"

"I'm the Wizard of Yamitarou! De masu!"

"Don't come up with a corruption of _The Wizard of Oz_!"

"Huff. No wonder Past called this a mad city. As if Boss' flyin' and talkin' baseball wasn't enough…" Future muttered.

"Gotta agree with ya there, man."

"Mr. Smiles will welcome us, de masu!"

"What NONSENSE is THAT? YAMITAROU~!"

"It's not nonsense, Number Man! De masu! It's my infinite intelligence and charisma~! De masu~!"

"What in the…! Get down from atop the counter!"

CRASH!

"De masu~…"

"Oh. Higure – san fell." Kido Shuuko muttered.

"Pyurururu~?" Aqua Man wondered.

"Huff. What a dude… Anyway… I'd like a Tank Cannon." Destruction Man sighed in defeat.

"Roger."

Number Man checked the inventory and placed the Chip Data in the counter: Destruction Man placed the money and Number Man checked it up before nodding in approval.

"Good. Have a nice day."

"Thanks. See ya."

Destruction Man stepped out and suddenly looked over his right shoulder towards the side-alley right of Higureya as if suspecting something: he quickly walked over there and glued to the right side wall to listen into what was going on there.

"Perfect Strategy Version 458! We seal them inside and detonate all of the bombs! Victory~!"

"Victory~!"

"Those guys…? Balrog talked me about 'em…" Destruction Man muttered.

"What do we do?" Future asked.

"Well… I'd say… Let's give 'em a little scare and remind 'em who's in charge."

"Roger."

Destruction Man stepped in and the voices gasped: he grumbled and drew the Tank Cannon which he shot past them and into a garbage bin, crushing the front of it and tossing it into the ground.

"Wha~h!"

"Cut Man Brothers! Flee!" Destruction Man ordered.

It turned out that the Cut Man Brothers (Jiiro, Saburo, Shiro, Goro and Rokuro) were the ones in the alley: they now looked panicked as Destruction Man loomed over them.

"Damn! Let's go! This punk will be a piece of a cake!" Jiiro tried to look confident.

"Surprise Choppin'!"

They all combined their head-scissors and threw it at Destruction Man but he merely built up energy on the right fist and punched it: the blow made the weapon collapse into itself: the Cut Man Brothers gasped.

"Impossible!"

"No. I just found the resonance frequency for this metal. Have a _souvenir_ from me, by the way! Destroy Missiles!"

He opened two compartments on both sides of his chest and formed 5 mini-missile openings on each one: 10 of them shot out and they split into 5 groups of 2 which hit each Cut Man Brother: they groaned and ran away in a rush while Destruction Man closed the compartments and shrugged before stepping out.

"What happened?"

"Huh? Well, well, well. Blues! Been a while. Do ya remember me?"

"How couldn't I, anyway?"

Blues had come to apparently figure out what had happened and Destruction Man grinned at him.

"The Cut Man Brothers trying to blow up Higureya, see…"

"Sheesh. They don't learn?" Enzan sighed.

"Nope. That's the problem." Future sighed next.

"But… Didn't Omega tell them what their brother had tried to do 5 years ago? Or are they so stubborn that they won't accept it?" Enzan groaned out of exasperation.

"Guess that's the problem."

"What stubborn idiots." Blues grumbled.

"Sure thin', _Danna_…" Destruction Man shrugged.

"Oh well. We'll file a report and that's it. Let's go back, Blues, because there's job to be done."

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

"Don't worry! Balrog will handle these guys next time they dare to show up around here." Destruction Man grinned.

"They're but small fry by now, anyway." Future encouraged.

"Good point. We should keep the focus on Neo Gospel. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them came for us soon enough. Especially that _samurai_ wannabe." Enzan grumbled.

"Huff." Blues seemed to roll his eyes under the shades.

"Oh well! Let's go back, Future, and help me finish tuning my bike." Future told him.

"Roger, _Danna_~! Bike – tuning time~! Bring it on, tuning bike!" Destruction Man grinned.

"Oh come on. Didn't ya overdo it?" Future laughed.

"Don't worry! I under-do it!" He came up with a pun on the spot and chuckled under his breath.

"Under-do… Well… Why not? Let's patent it, _fella_."

Both chuckled aloud at their jokes…


	6. Chapter 6: Rivalries

**Chapter 6: Rivalries**

17:17 PM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 25th…

"… Hey. Ayase."

"Ani – chan! Ya came! It's been a while!"

"Yeah. I wanted to drop by."

"With the 3:33 PM Gunma Express!"

"What's with the express jokes, Lander?"

"They're _express_! Nyah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Eh… Is that some joke Sigma came up with, ani – chan?"

"I suspect so."

Martin had come to a middle school somewhere and had been waiting outside when he spotted a student and walked up to meet him.

Ayase was about Netto's age and height.

He had blond-like hair and his eyes' irises were blue.

He wore a sleeveless black shirt, brown shorts, a black leather belt and sandals.

He had some slight remains of old cuts and scratches on his face along with some coagulated wounds on his skull but which were hard to spot.

"Yeah. I wanted a change of airs. Having had to bear with those mad mower abominations…" He sighed.

"Charles showed it to me." Ayase admitted.

"Sheesh. Charles. Always messing it up."

"Messy came through the back-door: the perfect entrance route~!"

"Wasn't it the perfect _escape_ route?" Martin sighed.

"Both!"

"Lovely."

"Ain't it? Bang, Bang! Lucky Luke! Joe and Averell fight while William and Jack look on!" Lander laughed.

"Quit it with the _Lucky Luke_ jokes already."

"Jesse James' bro is a fan of Shakespeare! And their cousin likes to blow up stuff! With TNT!"

"Those comics sound like fun."

"Maybe." Martin was seemingly tried to steer the conversation elsewhere given his sigh.

"Did something happen apart from Neo Gospel's reemergence?"

"The Cut Man Brothers got another lesson…"

"They never learn, do they?"

"They don't. But they're mostly comedic stuff by now so…"

"Billy the "Kid" will steal the sweets store and get all of the marshmallows in town for himself!"

"I doubt there were marshmallows in the Far West. And why marshmallows, anyway?" Martin looked skeptical

"The Marshmallow Challenge!"

"What the heck is that?"

"Whoa. What a coincidence. One of the pals suggested it and we tried it out the other day at break time."

"What's it about, Ayase?"

"Well. You've got 20 spaghettis, 1 sewing thread, 1 roll of adhesive tape and 1 marshmallow. Using those, you must build the tallest possible structure which doesn't collapse in 18 minutes. You split in teams of 3 to 4 persons… And the marshmallow is placed at the very top. It's apparently a test to make you realize the importance of team-work."

"Hum. So it's not some parody."

"No. I've heard that, in some colleges, they do that to introduce students to team-work and project management."

"In fact!" Lander grinned.

"What now." Martin skeptically asked.

"Mr. Denpa told me he did it once, too."

"Hum. Mr. Denpa is not the type to tell jokes so I guess he told you to shatter the tension."

"Newest banner!"

"Swallow me, earth."

"What is it this time around?" Ayase wondered.

"Ahem! "Oh fool deluded by diamonds. Your fate is to become a puppet for eternity."…"

"Sounds like what happened to the Larva who became Gurg…"

"You've seen those games too?"

"Yeah! They're cool."

"And? What are those "Larva" about, anyway?"

"Also called "thought beasts"… They are beings which reside in a different plane, almost like lesser gods… Normally, they cannot cross the dimensional gap out of their own will… They need to be summoned: and when they do, they lose a great deal of their original power…"

"But I guess there are exceptions?"

"Yeah. Some existing Larva with enough power, like shown in _Zero_, can summon others… Or the gods summoned others… Well. What happened is that one of them, Ernesto, who had been in the "light side", turned out to be an agent of the most powerful Dark God, Chaos… He manipulated the light forces to create some powerful artifacts…"

"It somehow reminds me of Sauron. There was a period in which he played fair and got involved in the creation of the Rings of Power, the Seven and the Nine…" Martin recalled.

"So when most of the "light side" Larva had equipped those artifacts, he activated them and turned them into the Gurg… They were all caught with the guard down and the artifacts managed to greatly corrupt most of their mind and soul while also turning them into his servants… That's when he took up the name Summerill… I think that that was his original name but used a fake name when pretending to be a good guy…"

"Along with the title of "Obscure Demon King", huh?"

"Yeah. Dunno why. Technically, even though he changed his form, he was still but a Larva. Not a demon. But since most "dark side" creatures were called "demons" then maybe he took it up to signal that he ruled over the "dark side"…"

"I see."

"One problem with the guy is that he's pretty much arrogant and power-hungry, desiring to overcome the Gods… I wouldn't be surprised if, despite him respecting his Lord, he was thinking of overcoming him one day or another."

"Seeing how ambitious the guy is… I guess he's the final boss?"

"Of the main storyline, yeah."

"So there are post-clear bosses, huh?"

"Oh yeah. There's a post-clear area, the "Boundary Plane", which is filled with brutally powerful enemies and challenges… Including the 6 "Dark Gods"… In _Zero_, it's filled with comedic scenes and gags."

"Such as?"

"A giant rooster as a boss…"

"The point must be that it was accidental, right?"

"Yeah. The rooster belongs to a girl who creates weird potions…"

"And so?"

"She wanted to use a potion in a hen to produce a giant egg which would allow her to cook 100 omelets but gave it to her pet rooster, Decimal, by mistake." He giggled.

"Just because you've got a giant egg that doesn't allow you to cook up to 100 omelets, I think."

"Dr. Egg-man knows it!" Lander joked.

"The guy in the _Sonic_ games? Oh come on."

"Oh, by the way… What happened to that Miss Ursula?"

"Her daddy gave her a scolding and limited her movements."

"And Yaito – san?"

"Ayanokouji? It'd seem her pals are starting to be fed up with her recent joking trend. She tried to pull one about Nelaus and Aura having done some indecent."

"No wonder."

"No wonder, oh wondering wonder of wonders." Lander came up with something to try to pass as a motto.

"That rhyme is outdated by now, Lander."

"Heh! Then I'll ask Vincent to lend me some."

"Oh come on. Not Vincent next."

"Huff. When those two women tried to brainwash me into being a fanatic heartless soldier… They purposely played Vincent's "show" to try to drive me mad…" Ayase grumbled.

"See, Lander? Don't bring it up again in front of Ayase!" Martin scolded Lander.

"Fine! Then I'll bring it down behind this fellow!"

"Maybe you need a lesson like Shadow Man…! Sheesh!"

18:28 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hah, hah, hah! It tickles! Niisan!"

"Too bad, Netto – kun. Bad boys need some punishment."

"Let's tease you a bit, Netto – kun!"

"Tooru – kun! Don't tease me so much, man!"

Tooru, Netto and Saito were having sex while standing in Tooru's shower yet they'd geared themselves with some S&M gear which consisted on a thin black leather collar with a ring, bands circling the shoulders and going down the sides, adjustable bands on the hips and the ankles.

They'd also blindfolded each other and placed metallic bracelets on their forearms bounded by a lock while aiming their hands behind.

They all had black 5cm wide vibrator stuffed into them from behind plus anal beads.

They'd also clipped clothes pegs to their nipples as well.

Currently, Netto was standing and leaning his back against the wall while Saito and Tooru were on their knees: Tooru was licking the length of Netto's cock while Saito licked his head to tease him: Netto was giggling and the other two giggled as well.

"Heh, heh, heh. Netto – kun's weak spot is the head, eh?"

"Sure."

"Or maybe… here?"

Tooru suddenly began to lick the balls and Netto began to laugh louder: Saito grinned and began to give Netto a blowjob: Netto moaned and laughed at the same time until he apparently released: both Tooru and Saito stood up and quickly began to lick around Netto's nipples: his moans turned louder.

"It's a licking contest, Netto – kun!" Saito giggled.

"N-not fair!" He laughed.

"All's fair in love!" Tooru reminded him.

"Oh come on…! Hah, hah, hah! Quit it!"

"Start it!"

"Middle it."

"Whoa!"

Netto got hard and he released again: Saito moved behind him and pulled out both the anal beads and the vibrator: he moaned as Saito rubbed his cock against his back and got it hard: he stuffed it inside while Tooru moved so that he could stuff it in too from the front: he captured Netto's lips and began a passionate kiss with him as Saito licked the rear of his neck: he looked pretty amused.

_Heh, heh, heh. Netto – kun must be about to see the white world from the pleasure! Let's tease him a bit more. Then we'll lower him a bit and I'll switch position with Tooru – kun. Heh, heh, heh. We needed a session of these to shatter the tension. I know those guys haven't come at us yet but I think it's a matter of time. So we must be ready for them: and since we removed those chip implants then Twilight can't use them to manipulate our thoughts…_

Saito released along with Tooru after Tooru had rubbed his stomach against Netto's cock: he broke the kiss and Netto panted to regain his breath.

"Too intense, even…!"

"Maybe you need ear tickling?" Saito teased.

"No." He drily replied.

"Dry Boy showed up." He giggled.

"Sheesh. And you then complain at Sigma's jokes."

"Guess it's some irony of life."

"Guess that." Tooru giggled.

"Alright, Netto – kun! Time to get down!"

"Whoa!"

Saito gently pressed his body against Netto's back so he lowered his upper body: he and Tooru switched positions so Tooru stuffed his cock into Netto's ass while Saito had Netto suck up his cock: Tooru had used the chance to place the vibrator back in Netto's ass too: they began to move in and out.

"Netto – kun's ass is as wide as usual!" Tooru grinned.

"Heh, heh, heh! Sure. And he's got a spot for blowjobs. He actually prefers them, I think!"

"So Meiru – chan doesn't mind this?" Tooru asked.

"At all." Saito shrugged.

"That's good."

"Yeah. Her reaction some months ago wasn't rational so… By the way, do you think that we should do something about Yaito – chan's jokes? We should do something to teach her there's a limit to them. Don't you agree?"

"Who wouldn't?" He sighed.

"That of the mower thing… Aura – chan used it for a good reason but it got filmed and it's on YouTube by now… And when her dad comes back from Washington then there's going to be TALK but… He'll still take another 5 days to come back."

"So we should do something… Maybe we could convince the others to play deaf and pretend she's not there? Maybe if she finds that we're ignoring her and such she'll think it twice."

"Hmmm… That could do."

"It's worth a try, don't you think so?"

"Yeah. We should tell the others."

"Whoa! Coming!"

"Go!"

They both released and panted: Saito stepped back to let Netto recover his breath while Tooru placed the anal beads back in: they stood to his sides and began to lick his cheeks next.

"Will ya stop licking me the whole time~?" Netto protested while laughing at the same time.

"Who knows?" Saito teased.

"Nobody knows." Tooru joked.

"Hah, hah, hah! Quit it already…! I'm getting hard again! And I haven't gone in yet today!"

"I'm afraid you'll have to bear with it." Saito warned.

"No! That'd be too cruel, Saito – kun. I'll give him a chance. Take off my beads and let him go inside of me."

"Alright. Then I'll give you a blowjob, Tooru – kun. Get ready for some tickling." Saito snickered.

"Roger."

"At least we agree on something!" Netto exclaimed.

"Else this wouldn't be funny." Tooru shrugged.

"Alright. Let Fun Man drop by."

"Fun Man, how original…" Netto drily muttered.

"Beware! Fan Man! Air Man's Greatest Rival!"

"Air Man…? Ah! That Gospel Navi… It's been about 5 years so it's no wonder I didn't remember about the guy… We only got to battle once, anyway…"

"Oh yeah. It's like how you only got to battle once with Shitenou Shiba in your _Heart Gold_ cartridge! See~?" Saito joked.

"How original." Netto drily muttered.

Saito giggled and got into the agreed position: on his way there he pulled out Tooru's anal beads so that Netto could slide his cock inside: Netto began to thrust in and out while Saito teased the head of Tooru's cock in the meanwhile.

"Oh yeah! I missed this thrill!" Netto exclaimed.

"A~h…! Saito – kun! Don't tickle me so much! I can't stop laughing: gimme a break!" Tooru moaned and laughed.

"Heh, heh, heh. Break Man will visit ya tonight, Tooru – kun! Along with Rest Man!"

"How original, Netto – kun! O~h!"

"But you're right, guys. We gotta do something about Yaito – chan before she sets the fear on the town by spreading those things around: we've warned Enzan already and he found that: that her dad isn't coming home until 5 days from now." Netto sighed.

"Well then, let's pretend she's not here and build up some pressure: maybe that will make her think it back."

"Yeah. It's the faster way, I think."

"Faster than light-speed?" Tooru tried to improve a joke so as to improve the mood.

"Heh. Why not?" Netto got amused.

He grinned as Tooru's moans increased and he went off thus triggering Netto's release: Saito got up to his full height and began a kiss with Tooru while Netto licked the base of his neck.

"Heh, heh, heh. I've still got plenty of energy~!"

"And we'll use it to tease ya~! Tooru – kun! Cutie~!" Saito giggled as he paused.

"Oh come on! Gimme a break! O~h! Too good! Feels too good…!"

18:53 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Isaa~c… King Kong and Donkey Kong are gonna open up the Ping Pong tournament in Honk Kong, see~…"

"I know that tune. Cloud Man. Show your recycled hide."

"Did ya call for me~?"

"Hmpf. I'm coming out to deal with you myself."

"If ya can, that is!"

"I can and I will!"

"Bring it on, fella~!"

Isaac had been checking out some data while on his PET when he heard Cloud Man's voice calling out from outside the house's firewall: he fumed and stepped out to find him there.

"Eat these!" Isaac announced

"Oh?"

He formed two round blood red disks which he shot out and they climbed Cloud Man's body yet without being able to cut through his armor: Isaac grumbled and drew a blade made of diamond which allowed light through it and wielded it.

"My Swiss Army knife." He let out.

"Not bad!" Cloud Man laughed.

"So? What's your newest trick?"

"This!"

His whole body began to frizzle with electricity and storm clouds formed on the "sky" thus dimming the light: Isaac merely shrugged and ran for Cloud Man: he jumped over the ground when he was some seconds away and placed his blade horizontally to block Cloud Man's incoming sword attack: he used the kinetic energy to spin and land behind Cloud Man.

"What?" Cloud Man gasped.

"Bring it on, Storming Man."

"Not bad! I'm Storming Man! I'm _storming_ your hideout!" He laughed at his own lame joke.

"Sheesh. Don't give the guy ideas." Nelaus complained.

"Sorry. I thought I could distract the guy."

"Nelaus! Man! Been a while~! Does Vincent haunt ya~?"

"Who knows?" He calmly replied.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's go~! Thunder Blast!"

"What!"

The electricity around Cloud Man suddenly converged on his chest as he quickly spun around and shot it at Isaac.

"Hah! Other Dimension Door!"

"Oho."

Isaac formed a glowing purple round mass of energy: the blast went inside and reappeared behind Cloud Man: however, he absorbed it back and let it shout out as lightning bolts in random directions.

"Surprise~…" He laughed.

"No surprise." Isaac dully replied.

"Blast me away~!" He challenged.

Isaac formed two yellowish orbs of energy which he shot at Cloud Man: they attached to his body and electrocuted him but they served no purpose because he dispersed it again.

"Is that all?"

"Of course not."

"Then bring it out, man! Or else the public will grow bored, see~!"

"Quit it with the 4th wall jokes already…" Nelaus grumbled and seemed to be fed up by now.

"Explosive Ring!"

Isaac jumped and dropped into the ground and, when he touched, it a purplish ring of energy formed around him and quickly expanded across the ground as columns of purple energy shot skywards from all around its diameter.

"Oho. This looks like it'll be fun! Let's go! Cross Thunder!"

A bolt of lightning fell down and hit Isaac while forming the shape of a cross: Isaac growled and ignored that as he rushed forward and his body began to glow with a golden glow before an explosion ensued.

"Whoa!"

The explosion had sent Cloud Man flying but he calmly landed on his feet two meters away.

"Aha. I see. So their new trick is inspired by this technique…" Nelaus realized.

"Want more?" Isaac challenged.

"Sure. I've got plenty of stuff in store~… Let's go!"

They ran towards each other and began to clash their swords while circling around: Isaac managed to land some hits but wasn't able to drive the sword too deeply while Cloud Man's attacks aimed at forming superficial cuts instead of grave wounds.

"Huff, huff… This guy's gotten though…"

"Heh, heh, heh." Cloud Man chuckled.

"We can't lower the guard." Nelaus warned.

"Of course not. And not like I intended to, anyway. But if we keep it up the guy will end up finding an opening… I'm not that good at swords…!"

"So there are you are. Neo Gospel lot." A voice rang out.

"Huh? Who?" Cloud Man wondered.

"Rama. Axe Man."

"Oho. One of ya guys…"

"Axe Man, huh…"

A Navi appeared there.

He had azure eye irises which were protected by the helmet's protection, similar to Knight Man's one.

He looked like a medieval knight with azure armor covered in bronze diamond patterns.

He carried a large axe on his right hand and an octahedron shield on his left one adorned with the word "Rama" colored golden.

His legs and arms had sparkling ivory patterns spinning around their surface.

He looked over a meter and eighty tall and his axe emitted an unsettling sparkle of cleanness to it.

"Fight me." Axe Man challenged.

"Why not… It'll provide a change of airs! Eat this!"

Cloud Man rushed towards Axe Man but Axe Man quickly set his axe to block the incoming attack and bounce it back: he swung it and Cloud Man ducked to avoid it hitting his undefended chest: he began to yield terrain as Axe Man's continuous swings became relentless.

"Shit. This guy's serious. Then again this guy was able to sneak into the BCE and steal money from its very core…!"

"Hmpf."

"Corner them, Axe Man."

"Roger, Present – sama."

"Present, huh? The ever fleeing present, aren't cha~?"

"Who knows?"

The Operator window showed that he had a navy blue biker's helmet with his codename's _Kanji_ (colored green) set on its forehead on.

He seemed to be older than Past or Future given the tone of his voice.

"Che! Sonic Boom!"

Cloud Man formed the Sonic Boom attack but it got deflected by the axe back at him and Axe Man rushed in: he hit the chest with the axe and made a deep incision there: the skin became visible through it and Cloud Man quickly jumped into the air to hover.

"Shit. At this rate this guy will make mincemeat of me. I'm not ready to face a guy of this level yet…! Remember, Isaac! I'll settle it with ya sooner or later! Look forward to it! And Bapgei~ says ya own him 50 bucks, by the way~! Mwah, hah, hah!"

He vanished into a Remote Gate and Axe Man simply aimed his weapon upwards: Isaac sighed in relief and Nelaus didn't seem to be surprised by the result.

"I guess the guy only came by to test us out…" He guessed.

"I need more sword training with Blues and Omega and Zero."

"Calm down. There'll be time for those."

"Hum. So that wasn't their true potential… Next time… We'll bring out the whole of our potential too…" Present muttered.

"Indeed, Present – sama." Axe Man confirmed.

"We'll see you around. Return."

"Roger."

Axe Man was retrieved while Isaac crossed the firewall and got back inside of his PET: he stretched and sat on a chair which had been set there: he looked at Nelaus and grinned at him so Nelaus grinned back at Isaac.

_Well. Let's see what stuff you're made of, you guys… I won't lose!_


	7. Chapter 7: Growing ambitions

**Chapter 7: Growing ambitions**

00:33 AM (London Time), Friday September the 27th…

"… Reclaimer, a Tech Reclaimer has arrived."

"Hmmm? Whom do you mean, Monitor?"

"Annihilator Man. It's me."

"Ah! Laser Man – dono. Welcome, sir."

"Is "Priest" there?"

"I think so…"

"You don't look too happy."

"Huff. Priest – sama overworks himself. He can be somewhat stubborn from time to time."

"No wonder…"

"Ah. Dr. Regal – sama. Good evening, sir."

"And such the Sentinels performed 3 flips, 4 spins and…"

"Yes, yes. I knew that, 343 Guilty Spark. They need some maintenance."

"Indeed. I shall excuse myself. I'm a genius!"

Laser Man had stepped into a system somewhere which had the banner of a school on the background: a Navi was standing there and going over some data screens while the Monitor 343 Guilty Spark hovered around there while muttering aloud.

"Fua~h… Who's there, Annihilator Man? Bob wants another can of Coca – Cola? Tell him to buy it himself! I'm not a drink provider! If only this simulator didn't take so long to compute the results…!" Someone complained in the real world.

"Priest – sama, sir…"

"Chut! Remember to use my civilian name here!"

"Anderson – sama, sir… It's Dr. Regal, sir."

"What? Tell me that faster!"

Annihilator Man's face was colored in a teal brown color and his eyes' irises were a mix of purple and black.

His helmet's forehead had an eight-pointed black and white jewel set on it: three purple stripes travelled from behind to the front.

The Navi was colored white with some black spiral patterns travelling up the arms and legs.

He had two gun-like objects colored black and white respectively and connected to something on his back by thick tubes.

His hands had purple octahedron-shaped patterns on top of them.

His emblem was the _Kanji_ _hametsu_ (annihilation) colored white and set against a gray background plus having a purplish edge.

His feet's fingers ended in claw-like extensions.

He seemed to be close to two meters tall.

"Father, sir… It's been a while, sir."

The holographic screen displayed a young man around sixteen or seventeen years old.

He had purple eye irises and silver-like hair.

"Rick. You work on simulations so late at night? Don't you have classes tomorrow?"

"It's only 10 PM!" He defended himself.

"Ah… It's past midnight, Rick… Did you even check the clock?"

"Whoa! I hadn't." He gasped.

"That's why…" Annihilator Man began to argue.

"Sheesh. You needn't act like you were my butler!"

"I apologize, sir, yet…"

"Ahem, ahem!" Dr. Regal cut them.

"I'm sorry, sir!" Rick apologized.

"I bothered to come all the way here to avoid communications being intercepted. This is a very confidential and delicate topic yet one which falls under your expertise, Rick. Do you see where I'm getting at? And no direct words. Call me paranoid but you never know."

"… I see." Rick's eyes narrowed in realization.

"We've visual data and sensor data plus simulated data: all under 5 layers of encryption provided by 5 different sources. Each of them has been thoroughly tested and examined thrice. The Science Labs did some extra job but we believe it's been worth it."

"Roger, sir. Annihilator Man: isolate the computer from the school intranet: mask it like it was shut down. You know the drill." Rick commanded.

"Roger, sir. Immediately, sir."

"Send Spark out to Utah and tell him Xon' Edos would like to give him a VIP Tour. He won't refuse. That should keep him busy for a few hours: you work on that while I go sleep. After today's classes I want some preliminary results. Encrypt them with these same algorithms. Don't let Spark get near those. This is dry wood. One spark and…" Rick ordered in a hushed tone of voice.

"We snuck through a system backdoor so there's no official log of our visit here either… And Shadow Man, Zero plus Omega assaulted a border outpost of Dark Land to keep their attention there and thinking it's another payback for that of "P. W." and the FOD…" Dr. Regal whispered to Rick.

"Understood, sir. Tomorrow afternoon… Sorry: this Friday's afternoon we should have some results: around 6PM or 7PM."

"Perfect. We'll come pick it up." Laser Man nodded in agreement.

"Did you check that Spark is not around?"

"No, sir. He's gone into Installation 04 and is busy coming up with some other Sentinel dance."

"Good."

"Anderson! Go to sleep!" Someone commanded outside the room in English.

"Yes, Mr. Brink. Immediately, sir." Rick replied.

"Good. My next round is in 20 minutes. I want your lights to be off and you in the bed by then, Anderson!"

"Roger, sir."

Someone walked away and some knocks rang out further away along with quieter voices: Rick sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Well. I better get to bed. Good night, Father."

"Good night, Rick."

"And remember, Annihilator Man… My PET has an alarm clock set on it anyway so you needn't bother… Work on the stuff tonight and you can rest during the day."

"Roger, sir. By your orders, sir."

"Remember to send Spark away."

"Acknowledged, sir."

"That's it. Good night."

Rick shut down his screen while Annihilator Man picked the black cube with two red bands circling its body and which Laser Man had deposited there: he nodded at Laser Man and Dr. Regal.

"Good enough, you two. Laser Man. The backdoor will only stay up another for 4 minutes: so we must hurry if we want to make it out of here undetected... Keeping it open for too long is dangerous."

"Roger, sir. Good night, Annihilator Man."

"Be careful, sir."

"Thank you for the advice."

Laser Man quickly walked away while shutting down his screen and Annihilator Man opened another to spot Guilty Spark dancing mid-air with the Sentinels.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Monitor, but Xon' Edos invites you to gather more technological information from his craft. Remember to encrypt it so that it cannot be used by the Flood or the interlopers." He calmly announced with a smile.

"Aha - hah! Fascinating! I must be on my way! Dance, my pets! I'm a genius! And resume patrol after another 5 mid-turns, 7 flips, 9 loops and 11 orbits…"

Guilty Spark hummed his usual melody and warped away: the Sentinels began to execute the issued orders while Annihilator Man began to quickly switch screens around to check the area and make sure there was nothing out of place.

"Good. Cloud Man or the others don't seem to have tried to sneak inside the Installation 04… Maybe they're busy enough training with the swords since only Yamato Man must have some expertise… Maybe Freeze Man as well…"

"Delano!"

"YIKES!"

"Writing graffiti in your neighbor's firewall? Detention!"

"Delano, the trouble-maker Navi of the 4th year dorms… Along with his Operator, Jeff Cutter…" Annihilator Man sighed and rolled his eyes.

"This is the 5th time in 2 weeks! You have no shame or what? This is not an Ameroupe college! This is a prideful Musselburgh school!"

"Neo Gospel…! We can't let them toy with this… Or else…!"

10:50 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Huff!"

"The salesman was annoying, I take it, Enzan – sama?"

"Exasperating!"

"They didn't know when to quit."

"And it was a wannabe, too, who thought we're idiots."

"We seem to have bad luck with those."

"It's Twilight! The rascal is directing them at me!"

"No good."

Enzan stepped back into his VP Office while discussing with Blues about some salesman: Enzan began to get exasperated and Blues sighed in defeat as if foreseeing trouble.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

"What! Blues!"

"Roger, sir!"

"Plug In! Blues, Transmission!"

Enzan aimed the PET's IR port at his laptop and Blues entered the Cyber World: he rushed into the main hub (a large round area with several lanes stretching across it at different heights) and found one of those "Gurg" swinging the sword around: Blues drew a Neo Variable Sword, jumped into the air, and landed a blow on their back but which was bounced off and bent the blade of the Neo Variable Sword: Blues calmly landed and got into a defending position while the enemy turned around: they sheathed the blade and folded their arms while chuckling.

"Heh, heh, heh. It's been a while, you _ronin_!"

"Yamato Man. Of all ones." Blues sighed.

"I'M NO DAMNED _RONIN_!" Enzan growled.

"Not again." Blues slapped his forehead.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's go! Hra~h!"

"Huff. Alright. Let's focus…! Sonic Boom!"

Blues shot the Sonic Boom at Yamato Man, who quickly drew the sword and bounced it back: Blues ducked and the Sonic Boom hit a wall behind him: he slid down the ground and changed to a Long Blade which he stabbed into the right side of the chest from below and inserting it into one of the openings: Yamato Man grumbled and stepped back to pull it out before he rushed away: Blues got back to his feet and rushed for Yamato Man, who blocked him with the sword.

"Where's your brain?" Blues taunted.

"What?" Yamato Man grumbled.

"Try to boil it up!"

"Damn _ronin_! I'll pull out your arms!"

"YAMATO MA~N!" Twilight suddenly roared over his radio.

"H-huh! T-Twilight – sama?"

"You better not get funny ideas!"

"I apologize! I did not mean it, sir!"

"I hope so! I had enough with Cosmo Man's idiocy last year's summer!"

"Oh man. He's still going over that? Cosmo Man…!" Yamato Man fumed.

"Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword!"

"Dream Sword!"

"Damn it! I lowered the guard!"

The Dream Sword hit Yamato Man head-on but didn't get to wound him much, more like just force him to yield terrain: Blues rushed in and they began to clash their swords at different angles: Yamato Man began to get fierce and now it was Blues' turn to yield terrain.

"I don't need any mines to defeat you, _ronin_!"

"I don't need any mines to defeat you, old-timer." Enzan taunted.

"Old-timer? ME?" He growled.

"HMPF!" Twilight didn't seem to be impressed.

"Now, now… Master…" Bapgei whispered to him but loud enough to be picked by the mike.

"I FEEL VEHEMENTLY DISGUSTED!" He barked back in Japanese.

"Excuse me?" Bapgei didn't understand it, obviously enough.

"He feels vehemently disgusted." Freeze Man translated with a sigh.

"Lovely." He sighed as well.

"NYA~GRH!"

There were rushed footsteps followed by a front door slamming: both Freeze Man and Bapgei sighed.

"Yamato Man… Just come back in one piece, alright?" Freeze Man commanded.

"R-roger, sir…! And, anyway… This was intended to be a mere heating up before the main campaign…"

"Fine. Just do it." Freeze Man grumbled.

"Thousand Spear!"

"What!"

Yamato Man began to imitate his classic technique using the sword and landed several blows on Blues, who kept on yielding terrain: Blues suddenly drew a Muramasa Blade which was glowing by now.

"Remember this?"

"Damn it. The Muramasa!"

"Muramasa Blade~!"

"Gruowh!"

The slice of energy was powerful enough to open a crack in the middle of his chest armor but he quickly resumed his earlier assault: Blues began to jump and flip in the air to dodge them or be one step ahead of Yamato Man's barrage: he was beginning to get annoyed and he suddenly hit the floor with the sword to form the invisible walls so as to limit their movements and reduce the fighting area.

"No more running away!"

"Fine. I'm ready, anyway." Blues grinned.

"What?"

"Program Advance! Fumikomizan, Triple Slot In!"

"Zeta Fumikokmi!"

Blues dashed forward at a mad speed and seemed to vanish to then appear in front of Yamato Man and deliver three quick and precise slashes at the guy's chest: they all shattered a fragment of armor and exposed his "skin" below it: Yamato Man growled and quickly drew two _katana_ shining with purple energy.

"I'll make mincemeat of you!" He growled.

"Try it." Blues challenged.

"Hra~h! Hah!"

Yamato Man crossed both swords and then uncrossed them to form a cross-shaped energy attack: Blues merely flipped back in the air and the attack hit him, forming an explosion: Yamato Man began to laugh but then 10 _shuriken_ hit his back in a row and made him collapse face-down into the ground: Blues reappeared behind him.

"Bodyguard Program Advance."

"Damn it!"

"Yamato Man…! And here I thought you didn't get confident…!"

"I apologize, Freeze Man – sama! I didn't intend to disappoint you, sir, but I happened to…!" He gasped.

"Get cocky, yes." Freeze Man finished for him.

"Want more?"

"Damn it. Things won't be like this next time around!"

"Zoan Gate Man… Just do it." Freeze Man sighed.

"Roger. Remote Gate!"

The Remote Gate opened and Yamato Man was retrieved: a white owl with a threatening look to it flew out of it and stared at Blues for a while without moving.

"What?" Blues wondered.

"Ijuuin Enzan… Blues… The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… failure!"

"Darth Bapgei, huh." Enzan wasn't surprised.

"Your artificial skin will soon get used to the taste of my knives."

"We'll see about that." Blues calmly shot back.

"Feeling confident, Mr. Blues in the Saxophone?"

"Who knows? Maybe Cloud Man is about to hack you lowlife?"

"WHAT! Cloud Man! The moron again!"

"Sheesh." Freeze Man grumbled.

The owl warped out and the radio channel was shut: Blues returned to the PET while Enzan sat on his armchair and sighed.

"As if it wasn't enough…! Sheesh. I need some fresh air, too."

"Roger, Enzan – sama. I'll order the repairs."

"Do it. What a promising September."

"Don't be so defeatist, sir."

17:54 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yoyo Blade!"

"What! Ugrah!"

"Match over! Winner: Rock Man!"

"Phew. This guy was too fast for my taste."

"Guess that, Netto – kun."

Rock Man shot the Yoyo Blade Program Advance at a Normal Navi in the Internet City Stadium and he got defeated: Rock Man stretched and began to chat with Netto.

"Heh, heh, heh." A familiar voice rang out.

"I know that tune. Cosmo Man. Come out." Rock Man challenged.

The "Cosmo Gate" opened and Cosmo Man hovered down into the ground while having the sword drawn: Rock Man folded his arms and was unimpressed.

"Let's go, Rock Man! Soul Unison, Omega Soul! Slot In!"

"Hmpf… Come!"

"Soul Unison: Omega Soul" Rock Man had gained a wholly new layer of armor over his body.

His helmet got Omega's helmet overlapped with his but the ear-pads remained unchanged: the inverted pyramidal jewel on the forehead was replaced by an eight-spoke emerald and a golden line with silver edges spanned across the length of the helmet from behind the jewel to the lower rear edge of the helmet.

His shoulder-plates became vermillion and gained white circuitry patterns over them: his arms' skin became black and his forearms' armor got a new crimson layer with a golden bracelet close to the wrist: the fingers were colored black by now.

The chest got Omega's vest over it.

It included the "Omega" symbol colored in white color on both sides of it: a hole had been cut on the center to expose his chest emblem.

His waist got that curious "V" piece of armor on it which formed that cavity in the front and the rear of it.

The legs became black and unadorned and the boots also got that crimson armor with a golden bracelet slightly beneath the start of them: the soils got thicker and were colored in metallic black color.

A large flock of blonde hair formed behind the helmet and reached all the way to the floor.

He lastly got the O – Saber on his right hand colored in a bright emerald color plus the holster for it over his right hip.

"DE MASU~! The Goddess of Battle has incarnated here and now! By the prayers of Higure Yamitarou~!"

"YAMITAROU~! YOU MORON!"

"… Activate low-pass filter: don't let anything below 1000 KHz be picked by audio input sensors. That voice is modulated at 800 KHz so I won't be hearing it. Now I can focus." Rock Man calmly announced as he tapped his left ear-pad.

"Clever, aren't we?" Cosmo Man taunted.

"Why not? Mr. Dismemberer."

"COSMO MA~N! DON'T GET FUNNY IDEAS EITHER!"

"Uwoh! Twilight – sama!" He gasped.

"Sheesh. What a day." Bapgei grumbled in the background.

"Those guys…!" Zoan Gate Man grumbled next.

"Someone save my sanity!" Freeze Man groaned.

"C-calm down, sir!" Yamato Man tried to calm him down.

"Metto~?"

"And filter those voices too." He muttered.

"Come!" Cosmo Man drew the blade.

"Fine."

Rock Man dashed forward while leaving a trail of "afterimages" and clashed blades with Cosmo Man while circling around him: he then jumped to the left and Cosmo Man tried to follow under to step on a mine and then fall on the ground: some exploded behind his shoulders and head and lifted him into the air to fall and detonate another set of mines until the whole circle had detonated: he got to his feet while grumbling under his breath.

"I recycled a strategy Omega used 4 years ago against Burner Man: a mine-field. And they're low-power so they won't be dismembering anyone to begin with." Rock Man dully announced.

"Sheesh. Omega…! The Red Demon…!"

"Dark Messiah, you moron." Omega corrected from his seat.

"Devil! And the man happened to be there too."

"Are you going to fight or I do need to yell at ya~?"

"R-roger, sir!"

Cosmo Man began to clash blades with Rock Man but he used his shorter height and agility to his advantage to move around and perform jumps and flips: Cosmo Man quickly got annoyed and began to swing the sword around at random but Rock Man wasn't impressed.

"Cosmo Man! I didn't send you there to try to play Hamlet!"

"R-roger, sir!"

"Maybe you need more vitamins." Vadous taunted over Omega's radio.

"_KYOUDAI_~! This is all your handiwork! It reeks of tritium!" Twilight growled back.

"How original." Vadous drily replied.

"Hra~h! Cosmo Gate!"

"Hum. So you can still use it."

The Cosmo Gate opened and began to bombard the field but Rock Man merely jumped over the planetoids until he stepped inside of it and found Cosmo Man generating the planetoids: he landed into one of them from above and the generated impulse sent it flying towards Cosmo Man, who quickly sliced it in half using his blade: Rock Man used the distraction to fly at him and clash blades again: they began to struggle.

"You speck of light…! You cannot rival the Universe's "Dark"!"

"Who said I wanted to rival it, anyway?" Rock Man shot back.

"Ask your imagination." Netto taunted.

"Sheesh! Cosmo Planet!"

Cosmo Man began to shoot the planets in a row and Rock Man had to fly and dodge them: he then flew upwards, drew an arch, and descended downwards towards the Stadium: Cosmo Man followed him and they landed back on the ground.

"No more hide and seek." Rock Man challenged.

"Fine! I was growing bored of it, anyway. Cosmo Ring!"

Cosmo Man flung his ring at Rock Man: he bounced it back with the sword and they began to bounce it between both of them until it gained enough speed to break through Cosmo Man's defenses and hit him fully, shattering some of the armor: Rock Man rushed in and began to deliver a barrage of punches: Cosmo Man gripped Rock Man's right arm, violently pulled it, and flung him away: Rock Man groaned and clutched the right shoulder once he'd landed on the ground.

"I KNEW IT YOU DAMNED IDIOTIC PAWN! YOU WERE AIMING FOR THAT AND YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING!" Twilight roared.

"Oh no!" He gasped in fear.

"Cosmo Man…!" Freeze Man groaned out of annoyance.

"It was an accident, sir! An accident, sir!" He insisted.

"ACCIDENTS MY ASS!" He growled.

"Someone give him a cold shower." Bapgei muttered in the background but was picked by the mike.

"AND YOU GO COLLECT STICKERS! BLUDGER!" He snapped at Bapgei in English.

"Huff. Fine, fine." He fumed.

"In-fighting, huh? Typical of the Dark Side of the Force." Vadous muttered loud enough to be heard.

"Sheesh!" Twilight hissed.

"W-what should I do, Freeze Man – sama?" Cosmo Man asked in a hushed tone of voice.

"Just go away to some disconnected spot and wait for my signal… I think he'll take the rest of the day to cool it off." Freeze Man ordered.

"R-roger."

"If that arm is really broken then you're going to regret it dearly, you golden boy wannabe~! IQ – sama's orders are ABSOLUTE~!"

"Lucky me." Rock Man ironically muttered.

"Lucky indeed." Netto joined the irony.

"Grrr… Next time things will be DIFFERENT!"

Cosmo Man disappeared into the Cosmo Gate while Omega walked to Rock Man and checked his shoulder.

"Well. It doesn't seem to be grave: just a slight dislocation. That's easy to fix so… Don't worry over that."

"What days!" Sigma muttered.

"And this is but the start. We can't lower the guard." Blood Shadow grimly muttered.

15:39 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… Oho. Bapgei. So you want a session?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good enough. Get changed and come to the main room. Thanks to your Boss, I'm now the "Queen" of this club. I'll give you the full treatment and you'll surely end up refreshed."

"Roger."

"You look ill-humored."

"Boss got two bad moods in a row and even told me to go out so I decided to vent it off here."

"Good idea. You surely missed a good Mistress bullying you for a while, didn't you, cutie~?"

"I did. I'll go get ready."

Philip had come to an underground room somewhere which seemed to be a hall: he met with Vanessa there.

Vanessa wore a black leather one-piece suit which started on the breasts and left most of her back exposed.

She had long black leather gloves on her arms plus mail covering the exposed parts of her arms.

She also sported heeled black leather boots with mail over her hips.

She carried a whip on the right hand which was rolled up.

"Good. I'll be waiting."

Philip entered a door to the right and entered into a change-room where he took off his clothes to reveal that he had S&M gear beneath them: he then stepped into the main room through a door on the left wall at some distance from the entrance door.

"I'm ready."

"Good."

The main room was lit with candles and most of it was unlit so as to create a creepier effect: Philip walked to the center of the room and Vanessa locked the forearms cylinders while lifting his arms: she connected the hook of a chain to the middle point of them to keep his arms lifted: she then crouched and closed a couple of cuffs at the end of two chains on his ankles to keep him chained to the ground.

"Good."

She rummaged into a suitcase and took out a black wool blindfold which she placed over his eyes plus a red plastic ball-gag which she placed over his mouth while securing it behind his head.

"Tee, heh, heh."

Her next step was to tie a set of adjustable leather bands around the base of the cock and the balls: they formed a circle around the balls from behind and three bands spread left, right and front from the central band so as to keep his balls tightened: her next step was to stretch his urethra and slide a plastic rod with thin beads built on it: she slid it inside.

"Starting to feel good?"

Philip merely nodded and Vanessa placed a plastic bell-shaped vibrator over his cock's head which she secured with cello-tape.

"Excellent."

Next she picked a pair of metallic cups connected with a chain and having a small weight attached to the lower end of each one: she clipped those on Philip's nipples and he seemed to shudder from the feeling.

"Almost there. You're only missing the anal beads."

She drew a long string of anal beads with a long string which had a ring at the end: she stuffed them in and then placed the ring into Philip's already hardened cock: she giggled.

"Good. Now we can begin."

She picked a black leather strap-on with rough spots scattered over its surface and secured it on place: she quickly began to thrust it into Philip's ass while she drew a 5cm vibrator which she turned on: she began to rub it against Philip's hardened cock while she rubbed his jaw with the left hand as if to tease him.

"You were missing this, eh? Tee, heh, heh. Although I'm a specialist in _yuri dominatrix_, dominating a boy from time to time isn't boring either. And especially when it's someone like you: an excellent masochist. You've had several Mistresses insofar, eh? You're popular, man."

Philip nodded in agreement as his cock's spasms began to slowly pull out his anal beads: he seemed to be enjoying the feeling and was drooling non-stop: Vanessa used her left hand to grip his balls for about a minute but he merely shrugged.

"Tee, heh, heh. This is but a teaser to you, eh?"

She then pulled the cups on his nipples and he seemed to shudder from the sensation: she began to lick the base of his neck and to rub the vibrator against the length of his cock: he seemed to enjoy it because his cock's spasms got faster and one could clearly see how the beads were sliding out of his ass: Vanessa kept on sliding in and out.

"Once they're all out… I'll stuff the vibrator in: let's see how you handle the strap-on and the vibrator at the same time, Bapgei. I'm gonna level this up as well. You ready~?" She whispered.

Philip eagerly nodded and she waited until he'd pulled out the whole of his beads: she stuffed the vibrator on and picked a ping-pong racket from the bag: she began to slap his balls with it from below and Philip shuddered while he arched his body.

"This is my technique, see~… How does it feel like? Refreshing? I like to innovate and improvise along the way, see~… You must be feeling like never before, am I right? Tee, heh, heh. But it's too soon to end it!"

She giggled and began to spank Philip's ass sides next while humming some melody or another.

"Level up!"

She picked one of the candles and let the wax fall on his balls as she gripped them with the right hand (while tossing the racket into the ground along the way).

"Feeling hot? Or cold? Tee, heh, heh. Or maybe lukewarm, even? I'm a genius! Or so I say myself."

She replaced the candle on its place and took the strap-on out from his ass to then fill it with another vibrator: she moved to his front and began to rub the strap-on against the base of the balls to scratch them: she used her hands to pull the cups on his nipples as well.

"Tee, heh, heh. Level up!"

She unstrapped the cock's head vibrator and gripped it along with the urethra beads: she began to slide them up and down and Philip seemed to be overwhelmed by the sensations.

"Oh well. I think this is enough. The day is still fresh and you've got stuff to do, I guess, so… OK?"

Philip nodded in agreement so Vanessa unfastened the bands around the base of his cock and pulled out the vibrator and beads: Philip released in several vigorous sprouts and panted once it was over, hanging his head down but still breathing.

"You OK?"

She took out the ball-gag and the blindfold: Philip looked somewhat hazy and distant so she frowned: she pinched his right cheek and he snapped back at reality.

"Huh? Ah! Yeah. I was hanging out in the white world." He admitted with a chuckle.

"Oh well. If it's just that… I'll free you."

She unlocked the chains and Philip calmly stretched: Vanessa had already stopped the vibrators so she placed them atop a platter.

"I'll cleanse them up later. You can go back already."

"Roger, my Mistress."

"Oh. You needn't pretend so much. If ya wanna call me Vanessa, then go ahead. I'm not your real Mistress, anyway."

"Alright. Yeah. I don't like pretending or bowing my head in front of others either so… I'll see you around. You're refreshing. I needed a change of airs, I really did." He admitted with a shrug of the shoulders.

"You're welcome to come anytime you feel like it. I've got time starting this hour."

"Roger. See ya around."

"See ya."

Philip walked back into the changing room and dressed back before going back into the hall and climbing up the stairs: he exited into a corridor which had an emergency exit door there which he opened: he stepped out into a back-alley and let the door shut behind him: his PET rang and he drew it out to spot Zoan Gate Man onscreen.

"Chut. Freeze Man sends me. He tells you not to drop by today: wait for tomorrow. Boss' mood makes rain." He hushed.

"Roger."

"And rain makes moods." Cloud Man joked in the background.

"How brilliant of you, cloud-hybrid." Zoan Gate Man grumbled.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah." He chuckled in a hushed tone of voice.

"You stay quiet or else Boss will get further pissed off!"

Philip had had more than enough so he muted the PET and pocketed it while he joined the usual pedestrian transit in the main street: he whistled a tune and looked at the skies.

_Well, well, well. Maybe it's about time I resumed my knife – throwing training… Nelaus… Ya won't be so lucky next time around… Heh!_


	8. Chapter 8: Awaited fighting

**Chapter 8: Awaited fighting**

13:43 PM (Japan Time), Saturday September the 28th…

"… Huff! What a traffic jam! Luckily the client didn't get annoyed."

"That's why we should've taken the other road, Hinoken – sama."

"Sheesh."

"_Hah!_ _You_ refuse to accept reality!"

"Not again!"

"Oh yeah? And what's with your niece?"

"HMPF! Tesla? Hah! Ignore her. This is between _me_ and _you_!"

"Not again… Cha two…!"

"Tee, heh, heh."

"We can't work like this!"

"True, sir."

"Hinoken! Count Elec! I'm here, you know!"

"Uo~h! Dr. Wily – sama! Roger, sir!"

"Back to work!"

Hinoken returned to Maha Ichiban's and began to complain aloud: Fire Man sighed while Count Elec got smug: a fight looked about to start so Madoi and Maha tried to stop them until Dr. Wily raised his voice and both stopped.

"Heh, heh, heh…" A familiar chuckle rang out.

"Damn it. I know that chuckle! That Freeze Man asshole!" Hinoken growled.

"Hrum. So they did come." Wily muttered.

"Come at me! Exiles of the Dark Side." Freeze Man taunted.

"How original." Madoi drily muttered.

Fire Man rushed into the restaurant's Cyber World and found Freeze Man there: he had the sword drawn and looked like he was waiting for Fire Man to begin with.

"Go, Fire Man!"

"Double Fire Arm!"

Fire Man drew his burners and shot two streams of flames at Freeze Man which hit his chest armor fully but barely got to leave any trace: Fire Man stepped back in a careful manner.

"Go, Fire Man!"

"Roger! Hroa~h! Vulcan Blast!"

He fused both streams into a single one and hit Freeze Man again but he didn't bother to block or dodge: Wily was looking at Hinoken's screen as he gave him the back and looked mistrusting.

"Hinoken! Stop! Step back. It's a trap. Freeze Man must be trying to force you to show all of your techniques and then come up with counters to each of them. Or it could be some type of Muramasa strategy to build up damage and then return it to you." Wily hushed.

"What!" He gasped.

"I heard it." Freeze Man chuckled.

"So what." Wily shot back.

"Good point. Heh, heh, heh."

"Show me your moves, my creation." He challenged.

"Fine. Icy Tornado!"

He held the sword skywards and a bluish tornado with snow and ice spinning around it formed: it left a trail of ice and snow as it moved towards Fire Man: he was unimpressed and merely jumped into the air towards the tornado.

"Let's go! Battle Chip, Salamander!"

The heat of the Salamander melted the snow and ice and the tornado dissolved: Fire Man landed in Freeze Man's position but he didn't bother to counter or block either: he even sheathed the sword and folded his arms.

"Is that all?" He taunted.

"Sheesh. Those bodies are non-elemental. They have no weakness to begin with. And they're hard to damage too." Wily grumbled.

"Damn it." Hinoken cursed.

"Hmpf. This was but the heating up, you lowlife!"

"Then show me your full power, clown."

"You're asking for it! Magma Tower!"

"What? Not Fire Tower?" He didn't seem to expect that one.

The ground rumbled and Freeze Man actually began to struggle to retain his balance: the ground below him crackled and magma began to sprout from those cracks: Freeze Man gasped and activated Float Shoes to avoid stepping on it: the magma began to spread and form a circle: Fire Man roared.

"BU~RN!"

"BU~RN!" Hinoken exclaimed next.

A geyser of magma shot skywards and engulfed Freeze Man: he roared and apparently began to swing the sword at mad to try to cut a way out of it: Fire Man drew two Flame Swords and some of the magma began to spiral around them: he rushed in and began to attack Freeze Man taking profit of his confused state: the geyser began to lose thickness and Fire Man stepped back.

"D-damn you~… You damned savages!"

"Hah! Take that, asshole!"

Most of Freeze Man's armor had been melted, broken or shattered: purple energy was sliding away from him from several cracks and the "aura" around him was fading in and out of view.

"Gruh! Damn it. Even by using the Dark Generator I barely survived this thing…! And 5 years ago it was so easy…!"

"5 years ago! Hah! You asshole! You were lucky: Fire Man happened to be weak and the HP draining rain worsened his condition… But you know what happened later: Heat Man busted ya!" Hinoken grinned.

"Blame me for the power-up too." Wily grinned.

"Damn it. And there Twilight – sama said you were no threat…! He's underestimated you, obviously enough! If only Cosmo Man hadn't acted like an idiot the other day…! He's been away ever since yesterday evening and we can't contact him…!" Freeze Man cursed.

"Want more, punk?" Fire Man challenged.

"One day I'll bury you lowlifes in the soil of Siberia! And once I improve the armor and my Dark Generator then… You stand no chance of defeating me!"

"Hrum. We'll see about that. Maybe you're the one who got confident to begin with? I guess I stuck my cocky nature into you." Dr. Wily rubbed his moustache and grinned.

"Sheesh! Not yet! I can still fight! Ice Tower!"

The Ice Towers began to pop out of the ground but it was still too hot as a result of the magma mass which had been there: they became steam on the instant and Freeze Man growled as he dashed forward faster than one would expect from his condition and plunged his sword through Fire Man's stomach area: Fire Man didn't seem to be impressed by that and merely placed his burners on the upper chest armor: Freeze Man gasped as if realizing his precarious situation.

"Double Fire Arm!"

"Mugro~h!"

The exhaust of the burners pushed Freeze Man back and Fire Man quickly drew his swords to strike back several times: Freeze Man swung his sword and left a cut across the waist area but Fire Man paid no heed either: he merely brought up both swords and crossed them.

"I'll bury you~…!"

"Remote Gate!"

The Remote Gate opened, Zoan Gate Man came out, and he quickly grabbed Freeze Man to drag him back: 64 Mettools having a purple number written on their hardhats' forehead rushed out and began to swarm Fire Man who struggled to get rid of them: Elec Man, Colored Man and Magic Man got in.

"Lightning Blast!"

"Ball!"

"Magic Saber!"

"Where did the rascal go to? I'll over-kill the asshole~!"

"Calm down, Hinoken! They're no longer there and those Viruses are Legion 64. You won't delete them so easily: they're a distraction while they erase their trail. You won. That's all that matters. The client is waiting for the delivery! Bring it! Now! On the double!" He suddenly commanded while standing up and signaling him.

"Y-yes, Dr. Wily – sama~!" He saluted.

He rushed out with a box and the others sighed as the Mettools rushed out through another Remote Gate: the other Navis looked mildly satisfied with the outcome.

"At least this should cool the guy down." Elec Man sighed.

"Let's hope so~…" Colored Man shrugged.

"Well. Let's get back to work, comrades." Magic Man rallied.

"Back to work, you lot!" Dr. Wily ordered.

07:47 AM (Iceland Time)…

"… Sorry for calling you guys so suddenly but since Captain Troniat said you'd seized an important lead…"

"Well, Dr. Spimer, sir…"

"We actually didn't do anything: it was Jasmine and the Captain."

"Thanks for the compliments, _bad boys_."

"Huff."

"Oh come on. Jasmine. Will you quit it with that joke? Get down to the business already. The Captain was very elusive and in the mood to tease but I'm not the type to have patience for those. I like results: clear and concise results. Do you get me?"

"Yes, sir. Ahem, ahem. The Captain and I did some investigation in Melbourne and we seized a lead to Twilight. Two, in fact."

"Two! Tell me more."

A man was talking to three persons within a room while sitting in a red leather armchair placed behind a desk.

The man looked on his late twenties or early thirties: he could be over a meter and eighty tall too.

His hair was combed in a neat manner and it was colored in an orange-like coloring while his eyes' irises were blue.

He had reading glasses on.

The man currently wore a white lab coat over a shirt, brown pants and shoes.

"One is this…"

"Who is this girl?"

"Twilight's newest recruit…"

"S&M, you mean to say?"

"Yes, sir. It's through her that we found the second lead."

The room contained polished wood desk which had a closed laptop on top of it as well as an interphone system: the desk also contained several drawers and there were several papers piled in the top left-hand corner: a pot with several pencils and pens was placed nearby

There were two leather armchairs most likely reserved for visits in front of the desk.

The room itself looked like an office: it had a set of five bookcases which occupied the whole length of the north wall.

The left wall was largely bare except for a custom-made light support design and an air duct cover.

The right wall had another identical light and a canvas of the Eiffel Tower.

The south wall just had the entry/exit mahogany door.

"Hum. Where did you find her, Jasmine?"

"In a small club in Melbourne… By looking up registers… She did show up as a "special collaborator" so it picked the Captain… So she went to check it out while I checked the other lead… We were lucky that Twilight has lowered the guard…"

The visitors, who were standing, were two guys and a girl.

Jasmine, the girl, was on her late teens or early 20s.

She could be over a meter and eighty tall and had short black hair.

She wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt along with black jeans, fingerless black gloves and black sneakers.

She also sported a pair of sunglasses over her eyes.

She also wore a utility belt with two knife cases and two gun pouches.

She'd placed a close-up photo of Vanessa's face atop the desk and Dr. Spimer, the man, had picked it up to check it out: the guys looked at it with interest as well.

"So, Justin? Did you have luck?"

"What do you mean?"

Justin, the guy standing to her right, had green tinted-hair: he could some inches taller than her.

"And you, George?"

"Reply to Boss' question, Jasmine. Then we'll talk."

George, standing to the left, had blond hair.

"Ah! Sorry, Boss."

"So? What's the other lead?"

"This fella."

She placed a close-up photo of Philip's face: Dr. Spimer frowned and then gasped as he seemed to connect the pieces together.

"This young man is Darth Bapgei?"

"Bingo."

"Whoa!" The guys whistled in surprise.

"So we finally get to see his face."

"We're still investigating to find his civilian name but insofar he seems to live in an outskirts farm with an aunt. He doesn't seem to attend any school. We're trying to be as discreet as possible. For the time being we're remotely monitoring him to see if he leads us to Twilight."

"I see. And even if Twilight moves, it's a matter of finding Bapgei and using him to trace him… From what we've deduced insofar he seems to have volunteered and is working with Twilight out of his free own will. So we won't interfere with him. He seems to have his free time too and since he's got family… He surely didn't want to involve them."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"_Hi~_… Doc!"

"Captain Troniat. Save me the nicknames."

A woman stepped in.

She seemed to be about a meter and eighty tall and she could be past her mid-20s or close to her 30s.

She had platinum blonde hair which she'd collected into a ponytail and brown eye irises.

She sported a brown shirt with long sleeves, a brown leather belt, jeans and black heeled shoes.

"I've got the results. Philip Erson. 17. He lives with his aunt. He's not attending school. He's supposed to be working as a clerk in a small enterprise of web design… His mother divorced and remarried 4 years ago and his father is a blue-collar worker with a record of being arrested several times in bar brawls… His aunt has the custody: his husband died 3 years ago of lung cancer… She rents a flat in Melbourne and earns a neat income through that…" She read from her PET.

"I see." Dr. Spimer replied as he wrote it down.

"However… Digging a bit deeper with the help of Mr. Omega…"

"You found something to link him to Twilight? How they met?"

"He volunteered in a gay S&M club."

"And we found that Twilight was in Melbourne because Rama's "Past" stumbled upon him on a club one October day…"

"Yessir. In fact… I found out that the club he raided was the club Erson was working at. I think that Twilight had just had a chat with him. The next day he rescinded his contract. Guess that's the day he began."

"So now we have a chronology. Excellent."

"We used an old trick: I pretended to be interested in the farm, I wanted to know if it was for sale, and asked a neighbor."

"And he told you about the aunt, then."

"The rest of the info about Erson was gotten by pretending to have found this photo in a wallet and we were trying to find the owner. And like I said, Mr. Omega helped find out about his contract."

"Good. This must be kept under wraps. For the time being Legion 64 hasn't dropped by here but you never know. Leave no digital records of this: they all must be on paper." Dr. Spimer ordered.

"Roger, sir."

"You three are dismissed."

"Roger, sir."

"And, Captain… Try not to have Jasmine stir up trouble." He directed a scolding glare at her.

"Roger, Doc. Let's go, Jasmine~… I've got some college photos I want to show cha, my dear disciple~…"

"Roger, ma'am."

Both came out, giggling, while the other 3 sighed.

"Those two… I hope the Commander and the Lieutenant keep them in check before they start up some prank which will go too far." He muttered with a sigh.

"Let's hope it, sir." George sighed.

"Girls…" Justin rolled his eyes under the sunglasses.

"Be ready to be mobilized. We may need further field investigation to try to figure out if Twilight has prepared a new hideout already."

"Roger, sir."

"Hmpf… Twilight… Cypher found you out… It's taken almost a year but we've finally found out what you hid under the cloak…"

_You don't have the upper hand anymore! Get ready, _forban_!_

19:57 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Prism Man – sama!"

"What's wrong?"

"Intruders! Neo Gospel's men!"

"What! In the Net Police HQ? Needle Man!"

"Shah, shah, shah! I heard it, dude! Let's rock!"

"Heh, heh, heh! Swallow Cutter!"

"Cosmo Buster!"

A Police Navi rushed to Prism Man's position to report as explosions rang out within the Net Police HQ Cyber World: Needle Man joined him and they rushed to the firewalls to spot Swallow Man and Cosmo Man shooting their attacks at random.

"Heh, heh, heh! We wanted something to kill the boredom! So we came over here! You'll do fine, Needle Man! Too bad ya got left outta the club two years ago!" Swallow Man laughed.

"Shah, shah, shah. Hmpf! We never got along." Needle Man wasn't impressed.

"No wonder." Cosmo Man chuckled.

"Hra~h!"

Prism Man rushed forward while drawing his lances: Cosmo Man chuckled and rushed for him but Prism Man suddenly jumped into the air and drew his barrel guns while kicking a Prism Battle Chip into the air with his right foot: his blasts hit the Prism and a rain of bursts of energy fell upon Cosmo Man from multiple points at the same time: the barrage forced him to defend himself and Prism Man used the window to jump in and slash the torso with his lances: some pieces of armor jumped off the impact and Prism Man quickly put some distance between them.

"Sheesh. We've got no battle data on this fool, now I remember!"

"What?" Swallow Man gasped.

"I don't remember having fought this man before! Have you?"

"Hmmm… I don't think so either… So it's an unknown opponent!"

"Exactly! We don't know what else this man can do and they've already pushed me to this spot. Reserve troops…!" He grumbled.

"Shah, shah, shah! Hey! Cha! Swallow Man! Aren't ya battling me? Needle Cannon! Messy Shooting!"

"Ugrah! No more chit-chat! Swallow Dive!"

Swallow Man jumped into the air and dived towards Needle Man: he merely grinned.

"Needle Attack!"

His body needles enlarged and began to frizzle with electricity: he suddenly focused all of it in one attack which snuck into the body through a crack in one of the chest armor's openings: Swallow Man growled and fell into the floor while he was electrocuted from the inside: he managed to stand up, though, and rushed for Needle Man while holding up the sword above his head: he swung it and cut some of the needles but Needle Man shrugged and stepped back.

"Hah! How's that, Swallow Man? Dr. Wily upgraded me too~!"

"Damn it." Swallow Man cursed.

"Hmpf. I don't need any upgrades. My potential alone will be sufficient to repel you, Neo Gospel!" Prism Man exclaimed.

He was clashing swords with Cosmo Man and dodging a bombardment of planetoids coming from the "Cosmo Gate" higher in the air: Swallow Man suddenly vented off all of the electricity outside his body and shot it at Needle Man but he didn't seem to mind it.

"Shah, shah, shah! Wood beats Elec in Net Battles!" He reminded him.

"Fuck it all. I forgot about that. Cloud Man! The moron."

"Shah, shah, shah! Yeah! The guy should've told you about that time ago but he didn't bother to~!"

"Hrah!"

"Hmpf."

"What!"

Cosmo Man found an opening and plunged his sword into Prism Man's chest below the emblem but he didn't seem to mind it: he drew a couple of Mega Cannon Battle Chips and let the recoil of the blast push him away while freeing the sword: Cosmo Man fumed.

"Damn it! We need to do better! We can't fail when we're so close to the X Day!" He growled.

"X Day… A general attack, I guess." Prism Man muttered.

"Shah, shah, shah. Classical!"

"Cosmo Man!" Swallow Man scolded.

"Sheesh. My frustration blinds my judgment!"

"You don't want Twilight – sama to get pissed off like the other day around!" He hushed.

"I know!"

"Shah, shah, shah! Want more~?"

"Of course! Take this! Count Bomb!"

Swallow Man formed a Count Bomb and flung it at Needle Man: it exploded in front of him and momentarily blinded him: he brought up his arms in a defensive pose but Swallow Man dived at him from above and the impact brought him to the ground: Swallow Man dropped a Magma Seed and Needle Man was set on fire.

"Ugranya~h!"

"Plug Out!" Yuriko commanded.

"Hah! Too bad, Needle Man! You had to remind me of your weakness to begin with! The rest is up to ya, Cosmo Man! I'm going back to the base and have fun with _Halo 3: ODST_! New Mombasa: Swallow Man's come to bust aliens! Hah, hah, hah!"

Swallow Man entered a Remote Gate which formed in mid-air and vanished while Cosmo Man chuckled: Prism Man was unimpressed and he merely loaded up energy on his lances before they began to glow with a purplish glow.

"Get ready."

"Hah! Come. Fool." Cosmo Man taunted.

"Dark Prism!"

"What? Ugro~h!"

Prism Man shot energy at Cosmo Man and there was a bright white flash: when it dimmed a glass 3-sided prism had formed in the air and it was spinning upon itself.

"That's the Labyrinth of Light. Another dimension within the Cyber World: and an inescapable one, too… In theory, that is." Misaki Gorou muttered aloud.

"Careful, sir. I can feel a powerful energy reading."

"The "Dark Generator"… I guess that it was in vain. Oh well. At least this should them an idea of whom they're challenging." Misaki calmly muttered.

There was an explosion and part of the prism shattered: Cosmo Man dropped back into the ground and rushed for Prism Man who brought up both lances to block the incoming attack: Cosmo Man suddenly delivered a blow with the left fist into the stomach area which forced Prism Man to yield terrain: he coughed and Cosmo Man began to punch him in a row as if having decided to change tactics: some cracks began to form over the assaulted armor section.

"No good! Area Steal!"

"What!"

"Tank Cannon!"

"Gruh! I felt that one!"

Prism Man warped behind Cosmo Man and shot a Tank Cannon blast at him: he grumbled and turned around to counter Prism Man but he jumped away and landed some meters further south.

"Cosmo Man! Enough!" Twilight commanded.

"Twilight – sama?"

"That prism thing set an HP drop bug in you: hadn't you realized?"

"What! True!"

"I'll warp you to a quarantine spot: the others will clean that bug to make sure it's got no tracers and then they'll bring you to the base. This was intended to be a demonstration and at least you brought down one opponent yet that was too easy. Swallow Man got lucky. No one gets lucky twice." Twilight calmly told him.

"Roger, sir. You were lucky, Net Savior!"

"Hmpf." Prism Man was indifferent.

"Zoan Gate Man!"

"Roger. Remote Gate!"

The Remote Gate opened and Cosmo Man stepped on it before it vanished: Prism Man lowered his weapons and merely shrugged at the cracks.

"10 minutes and they shall be repaired." He reported.

"Good job. I'm worried about this "X Day" announcement and I fear that it's very close by. We must be on our guard and check back the battle data to make sure our tactics are effective. Plug Out."

_Neo Gospel! The Net Police won't let you do as you like! _


	9. Chapter 9: Sphere fear

**Chapter 9: Sphere fear**

09:12 AM (Japan Time), Sunday September the 29th…

"… Man. We just woke up 10 minutes ago after the intense evening we had yesterday and you want more?"

"Sorry, Saito. But you're so alluring…"

"You're like the forbidden fruit, even."

"That's an irony, Search Man? Typical of you, I'd say. Oh well. At least this time around Netto – kun and the other two didn't fight over who set the style and the order of rounds…"

"Enzan – sama needed a change of airs: between the President's pressure and Neo Gospel…"

"Alright. Let's have some more fun, guys."

Saito had woken up in a king-sized bed to find Search Man (without his armor) at his left and Blues (having only the helmet and shades on) at his right: they were all covered by the bed's covers past their navels but leaving the chests exposed: Saito looked amused and so did the other two so they began to chat.

"Po-po-po-porong!" Netto called out.

"What the heck is that, Netto – kun?"

"Sigma's newest alarm clock!" He laughed.

"Sheesh. When you feel like it Sigma becomes a bad influence."

"Guess that!"

"What about your pretenders, Netto – kun?"

"The puma and the lion? Napping like logs!"

"So why don't you ready them some breakfast? If there's anything to be served as breakfast, that is."

"Sure! See ya around the boiling dock!"

"Boiling dock, how original." Blues drily muttered.

"Leave it to Sigma to come up with nonsensical mottoes."

"Hey. At least they're not Vincent's."

"Huff. You needn't remind me. I still remember the interrogation of 4 years ago. He kept calling us "Washington-employed kiddos"…"

"Sheesh. Having been kicked out of the CIA the only thing he does is getting drunk and somehow managing to ring people in Japan to proclaim stuff or try to make others believe there's a conspiracy… He tried to pose as Vadous – san two years ago but failed and then got hired by that Emperor S guy to impersonate "K. O."…" Saito rolled his eyes.

"And he abducted your brother 4 years ago just to try to play cool and laugh at the "Committee", huh…" Search Man sighed.

"Bah. Let's forget about the guy."

"By the way, Saito… We've been receiving several mails having a picture of an owl battling a volcano-shaped monster… Any ideas?" Blues brought up with a sigh.

"Isn't it obvious? Bapgei is coming for Enzan."

"I knew it."

"Ah. I see. Twilight must be the one who drew the pictures: a random Australian wouldn't know that Enzan is made up of "en" or "flame" and "zan" or "mountain"… Flame mountain… And since "volcano" is "kazan" or "fire mountain"… What a lame pun."

"I suspect Cloud Man's meddling: according to Isaac that guy's the one who comes up with the lame jokes so…"

"Why don't we vent this mood off with some morning sex?" Blues tried to switch topics.

"Why not…" Search Man got amused.

"Alright. Stuff them in." Saito invited.

Both grinned: Blues slid beneath Saito and apparently stuffed his cock into him while Search Man loomed over him and did the same: Saito closed his eyes and let out a small exhale of pleasure as he felt how both of them began to move in and out.

"Yeah… This thrill! I needed some more of it. And since we've just begun the year then the homework volume isn't very high… I can permit myself this little break."

"True. We need something to release the tension."

"RA~WR!" A roar rang out.

"Whoa! A T-Rex! Where's my revolver?" Enzan exclaimed.

"Ever since when do you have a revolver, Enzan?" Laika skeptically questioned.

"Hah, hah, hah! Oh the faces!" Netto laughed.

"NETTO~!"

"Sheesh. Netto – kun…!"

_Will you quit it with the masquerade?_

_But, see, niisan… I knocked at the door but they wouldn't wake up!_

_Then pull their ears next time! Or else the upstairs neighbor will report Enzan for being loud!_

_Don't worry, ani – sama~! All's under control!_

_Don't start another Nickname War: I see it coming._

"SIGMA~!"

"Did ya call for THE BOSS? SIGMA BOSS!"

"Sigma Boss? Sheesh." Blues grumbled.

"Wasn't there a brand named Hugo Boss?" Search Man asked.

"Hence the joke." Saito grumbled.

He began to distractedly rub his cock with the right hand as if trying to vent off the bad mood.

"Sigma! We've got an imminent crisis about to knock at the doorstep and the only thing you can do is THIS?" Blood Shadow scolded.

"Don't worry, Bloody~ Shadowy~!"

"SIGMA~!"

"Y-yikes! Commander Omega, sir!"

Saito had had enough so he picked a couple of ear plugs from beneath the pillow and put them on: he start to rub his cock faster and eventually released thus triggering the others' releases: Saito got on his fours and began to suck on Search Man's cock while Blues began to pump in and out of Saito's ass from behind while rubbing his cock.

"Did you activate the low-pass filter?" Blues asked.

"Obviously. We can't hear what's going there. We'll find out once we go out, anyway."

"Saito does like to do blow-jobs, though." Blues smirked.

"Guess that. I'm the one who invited him firstly, anyway. One year ago, more or less. Feels like forever ago…"

"We took a bit longer but around December we decided to take that step forward…" Blues chuckled.

"Yeah. Let's finish this round."

Blues began to move faster while rubbing Saito's cock while Search Man increased his pace: Saito released so Blues went off and Search Man went off inside of his mouth.

"Heh, heh, heh. Blues. On my lap. Search Man. Kiss with him." Saito instructed next.

"Alright. I'm lucky." Blues grinned.

"Guess that. You're confident today."

Saito sat on the bed and Blues slid down his cock: Saito hugged him as Search Man sat in front of Blues and began to kiss with him while rubbing his cock against Blues' cock.

_Oi! Niisan! _

_What now? I'm having fun. Don't spoil it. I was blocking you in purpose in case you hadn't realized._

_Sheesh! It's not fair! You're having fun and I got scolded by Omega for arming a ruckus!_

_Which you did. Bad kids need to be punished, you know? Now let me have fun and think about it._

_Huff! Why do I always end up having the shorter stick?_

_You're too cocky for your own good: cool it down._

_Sheesh!_

_I'm off!_

_Oi! I'm…!_

"Sorry. I needed to give some scolding to Netto – kun too: he can too stubborn for his own sake from time to time." Saito sighed and rolled his eyes.

The other two seemed to agree: Blues and Search Man released so Saito went off too and exhaled in pleasure.

"A~h… I needed it! Alright. That's enough. Let's get dressed: I'll have some breakfast while you should go back to your duties."

"Fine. Let's hope that your brother and Sigma get the lesson."

"What a morning!" Blues sighed.

"Yeah. I get that feeling as of late too. What mornings."

"Well. Back to work… We can't lower the guard!"

"Of course not… If an enemy shows up… I'll defeat them!"

10:29 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…"

"Huh? Who's there?"

"Gate Cannon!"

"Whoa! Zoan Gate Man! So you guys were behind this marijuana storehouse here in Yokohama, huh?"

"Indeed! Cyber Snatcher!"

"Jeez."

"What do we do, Martin?"

"Science Labs! I need a Dimensional Area!"

"Roger! Dimensional Area, Activate!"

"Oho."

Martin had been checking out a storeroom which had several crates filled with marijuana when Zoan Gate Man showed up and shot at him: he ducked and hid behind a crate before drawing the PET and contacting Meijin: a Dimensional Area formed on the warehouse and he stood up drawing a Synchro Chip.

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

"Coming…"

The sphere of light dimmed to reveal "CF" Lander.

The "Cross Fusion" form retained most of Lander's normal form.

Differences included a coat of arms – like pattern on the helmet's forehead: Martin's hair came out from behind the helmet.

The shoulders remained anatomically correct and had brown leather armor over them.

His arms and elbows had switched to a turquoise color.

The forearms (colored dust brown) had some black crisscrossing patterns drawn into them and which looked thicker than Lander's: they glowed with a soft blue glow as well from time to time.

His main body also gained the Alphabet letters "M" and "B" colored red and black each and set left and right beneath the shoulders.

A set of three parallel green lines descended from beneath each letter and then joined into a thick one which ended on a waist belt having two pouches for the Colts.

The legs contained two circling orange bands set above and below the knee which had metallic gray dots drawn at random inside of them.

The boots were white: they had a faint white color like they'd worn out from time.

He sported a cowboy – like hat colored brown and white over his head as well.

"Heh, heh, heh. Lucky Luke's Scottish cousin came~?"

"How original."

"Oi! Zoan Gate Man! Don't steal my spotlight!"

"Who the heck told ya to come, anyway?"

"My evil cousin!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah!"

Cloud Man suddenly stepped in from the furthest door and Zoan Gate Man grumbled as Cloud Man laughed: he folded his arms and leant his back against the wall.

"Alright, Lucky Lucy~! This gateman fella is all yours: I'm just the spectator in the VIP Seat provided by Phil!"

"Not _Mighty Ducks_ again… Go rooster." "CF" Lander seemed to guess the origin of the joke.

"Decimal Strikes Back With A Vengeful Soul! Run, Shernini! Or else ya will be pecked to death!"

"Sheesh. Be quiet, you. Gate Soldiers!"

"Gate! Gate! Gate!"

The Gate Soldiers rushed for "CF" Lander but he simply drew both revolvers and began to shoot the rounds: they bounced around and hit the Gate Soldiers from unexpected angles: Gate Man suddenly chuckled and formed the Demon Hand to grip "CF" Lander and began to try to crush him.

"Surprise~…" He chuckled.

"CF" Lander, however, vanished in a cloud of smoke and left a thick wooden log behind: he reappeared behind Gate Man and shot a string of 10 _shuriken_ at him yet they got stuck in one of those invisible glass walls before they could met their target: Zoan Gate Man whipped around and drew the Gate Cannon.

"Gate Cannon!"

"CF" Lander dropped into the ground and suddenly activated the mechanism on his right arm: he formed a Hyper Ball and flung it at one Gate Soldier: it got compressed into blocks of data and the Hyper Ball bounced off the ground slightly before starting rock left and right: it stopped and "CF" Lander picked it up.

"Gate Soldier, _get_!"

"W-wha~t?" Zoan Gate Man uttered in disbelief.

"Bravo, Cyber Snatcher! Giganda sends his greetings!"

"Oh yeah? I'm not surprised. Ayase did say the guy was cocky and arrogant to begin with."

"Oho~! So we have an excellent _connoisseur_ 'round the village of stray and tray souls, I take it?"

"Stray and tray…!" Lander grumbled.

"Yeah. You can grasp how clever the guy is from that."

"Grah! Stop assaulting me! You useless moron!" Zoan Gate Man was trying to hit the Gate Soldier.

"Struggle and dance~!"

"Shut up!"

"Alright! Program Advance! Cannon, Hi Cannon, Mega Cannon! Zeta Cannon!"

"CF" Lander formed the Program Advance and hit Zoan Gate Man from the front: the blast made him lose the balance and crash into one of the boxes: the Gate Soldier began to peck on his forehead and Cloud Man laughed.

"You lowlife~…! Cloud Man! Don't laugh!"

"Don't worry! It's just the gag curse~! Like in Zero's Boundary Plane: full of gags! Decimal's Untold Revenge Curse~!"

"GHRKGBHNN!" He cursed something undecipherable.

"Beyondard's rough dialect for crafty guys!"

"What in the…" Lander groaned.

"How stupid." Martin fumed.

"I can still fight you~! Gate Cannon! Hexagon Mode~!"

The Gate Cannon formed a sphere of energy from which six beams of energy split and headed for "CF" Lander: he gasped and didn't have time to shield so they hit him and had him crash against the far wall left of the main door: he groaned and managed to recover but he got gripped by the Demon Hand again.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I win!"

"Not so fast! Salamander!"

"Not this again! Aqua Tower!"

"Useless!"

"Remote Gate!"

Zoan Gate Man gasped and tried to use an Aqua Tower to put out the Salamander "CF" Lander had used to burn up the Demon Hand: he dived into the Remote Gate and appeared further in as the Salamander hit the floor and produced a heat wave which set the crates on fire: the fire alarm rang out and the automated anti-fire sprinklers in the ceiling discharged thus putting it out.

"Heck. And now the fire-fighters will drop by here…! At least this was but a small business…!"

"Small Business Inc.!" Cloud Man joked.

"Grumblftx!"

"Beware! A bomber will sneak a bomb aboard a Boeing 747 by hiding it on a chickpea cake! Mwah, hah, hah!" Cloud Man laughed.

"I've had enough! I'll settle the score sooner or later, Cyber Snatcher! Look forward to it! Remote Gate!"

Zoan Gate Man rushed into the Remote Gate while Cloud Man sighed and shrugged.

"Well, well, well. I better go back and finish training: X Day is about to arrive and I don't wanna be left behind. The first of 10 fires will signal the start of it, Cyber Snatcher!" He announced.

"The first of 10 fires?" He frowned.

"Heh, heh, heh. Ask your precious Omega – sama~! Bye~!"

Cloud Man vanished with a purple flash and Martin released the "Cross Fusion" since the sprinklers had switched off by now: he frowned.

"Maybe the Justice Council could go over this. I'll drop by their office later on to tell them."

"We gave that outlaw a good lesson, Martin! _Bang, bang_! Heh, heh, heh!"

10:50 AM (Japan Time)…

"Ah! Young Blackdesu. It's been a while."

"Commander Alamantz. It's good to see you again. Are you working alone today?"

"Most of the members are in solo missions or resting… I've got young Nokay working on some database maintenance… Maybe he could give us a hand… Secretary Nokay!"

"Did you call, Commander? Ah! Martin. Hi there."

"Hi. We'd need your help."

"What can I do?"

"I've got a clue about X Day but it's very cryptic. Maybe you could try to figure out if a similar cryptography pattern has been used before?"

"By Crypto Man."

"Oh come on. Lander. That joke was poor in taste and you know it to begin with."

Martin had come to a meeting room in a building which contained a round plastic portable table set in the middle of it: the room had two glass doors at entrance and exit plus two small trees decorating the sides: several portable chairs had been placed there: two persons were there.

"The Janissary Army Strikes Out!"

"Oh please! Quit it with the _Tzar: Burden of the Crown_ jokes. I know I like the "Arab" civilization of the game: but that's another tale! Lander!"

Commander Alamantz, one of them, could be on his mid – 50s, and could be about two meters tall too.

He had Indian traits such as the face profile and the teal skin.

His face was covered in abundant black beard plus a slightly refined moustache while the black hair reached until the end of the neck: the eyes' irises were brown.

He wore boots, brown trousers and a pale brown vest.

"Jeez. So? What's the code?"

"Your girlfriend wants coffee~!" Lander laughed.

"Lander. I suspect Sigma's antiques." Martin grumbled.

"Oh no! More like Vincent's modern style."

"Sorry, Patrick Nokay, but this guy…!"

"Yeah. I can see that."

Nokay could be close to his 20s but maybe he was 18 or 19 years old and closer in age to Davis and Charles.

He had brownish hair which had been cut so that it didn't grow too thick and it was combed with the help of fastener and comb: his eyes' irises were emerald green.

He wore a simple white shirt, a green bowtie, jeans and white sneakers plus a black leather belt.

He had reading glasses on.

"Ahem, ahem! "The first of 10 fires will signal the start of it!"… That's what Cloud Man proclaimed and I think it's got some logic to it somewhere but I can't catch it." Martin let out.

"The first of 10 fires…? Maybe it means 10 separate attacks but only the 1st one is the real one and the other 9 are diversions?" Nokay ventured after thinking about it.

"It's not absurd." Alamantz rubbed his chin.

"Yeah. But it seems like too much of a give-away to me. I know Cloud Man likes spoiling people but I think that, this time around, he didn't want to spoil that much. I've got that hunch."

"Hunch Munch Hush!"

"Go sing those to Higure – san and says it's a blessing from no-one."

"By the moons of Threshold! Where is the infestation, Reclaimers? I must sterilize it immediately!"

"Spark? Why are you here?" Martin asked.

"Reclaimer Lander said that there was a Flood outbreak and…" Guilty Spark began to explain.

"Hey. I didn't make up that one." Lander turned serious.

"Cloud Man. Who else?" Martin sighed.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Tinker-ball dropped by~!" Cloud Man laughed from somewhere else.

"Vexation! Vexation! Vexation!" He blurted out in a rush.

"Lovely." Alamantz grumbled.

"Can your toys harm me, baseball?"

"Sentinels, open fire! Max power!"

There were some sounds of metal hitting metal followed by violent crashes of metal against the ground: Martin opened the screen to see that Cloud Man had easily beaten the Sentinels which had come to face him outside of the building's firewalls.

"Too bad. These toys were made by ACME Inc.!"

"Vexation!"

"Like ya~…"

"I shall not allow you to defile MY ring!"

"Lovely." Lander grumbled.

"This is the price you pay for being a troll: you draw trouble along you wherever you go to, Lander."

"Lesson learnt, damn it."

"Let's hope so. Ignore that farce, Nokay. Any other ideas?"

"Hmmm… Right now… Nothing."

"Say… We all are foreigners…" Alamantz brought up.

"So it's something related to Japan? Some festival or holiday or something like that?"

"Hmmm… Maybe we should investigate upcoming festivals: I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight picked a festival day to attack. Maybe he aims at making people believe they bring misfortune." Alamantz rubbed his chin and grumbled.

"AGURURURURU~H!" Cloud Man uttered.

They spotted how Guilty Spar was shooting a continuous red stream of energy at Cloud Man's chest armor and breaking through it: Cloud Man was yielding terrain.

"Damn it! I'll remember this, baseball!"

He vanished and Guilty Spark uttered something undecipherable in a rush under his breath.

"Vexation! I must return to my Installation!"

Guilty Spark warped out while the others sighed in defeat: Nokay walked out for a moment into the corridor and then elsewhere: he soon returned while carrying a notebook computer: he placed it atop the table and sat on a chair while starting to work with it.

"Let's see… Series of fires, 10, the first of ten… Hmmm… Nothing which raises the attention… Maybe it's a very obscure reference to something else?" He wondered.

"Keep trying."

"Roger, Commander… Hmmm… Kyoto's Jidai Festival… Miki's Autumn Harvest Festival… Himeji's Nada no Kenka… These are the biggest festivals which will happen this October…"

"Wait… October… It starts the day after tomorrow…" Martin suddenly frowned.

"But what does October have to do with fires?"

"… Tuesday!" Lander realized.

"Of course! In Japanese, Tuesday is "kayoubi", or "fire-week-day", shortened as "fire day"! It means Tuesday October the 1st! The day after tomorrow!" Alamantz realized.

"The only problem is… When and where will it happen? It could be overseas for all we know."

"Good point. I'm afraid we won't get anything further than that and that we'll have to wait and see what happens."

"Sadly enough…"

"Oh well. At least we solved this. That's one step." Martin tried to cheer them up.

"True." Lander shrugged.

"Huh? Sheesh. Another joke by Cloud Man… "Shadow Man got reborn into Dull Man!"… About time the guy stopped pulling jokes… And what the heck is this mower wannabe thing ramming into the firewall?" Nokay groaned as he checked something out.

"Ayanokouji's latest invention… The stupidest thing EVER." Martin warned Nokay with a sigh.

"What's with that town?" Alamantz asked.

"It's a nest of madness, unfortunately enough." Lander summed up in a few words.

"Had I known this I'd stayed away in Detroit." Nokay sighed.

"It's too late to regret it by now: and it won't change anything."

"I know, sir, but there are times…"

"X Day… October the 1st… The question is… Where and when?"

"We don't know, man… Sheesh. Neo Gospel… They need a lesson!"


	10. Chapter 10: X Day

**Chapter 10: X Day**

02:31 AM (New York Time), Tuesday October the 1st…

"… This is Freeze Man… All cameras are disabled… All OK…"

"Here's Cloud Man – sama~… All sensors are out… All OK…"

"Swallow Man reporting… The locks have been released… All OK…"

"Yamato Man here… The insides are empty, as expected… All OK…"

"Cosmo Man… The outsides are quiet, as scheduled… All OK…"

"Zoan Gate Man… Legion 64 members are on their positions… All OK…"

"Good. I'll soon get there myself along with Bapgei."

"Did we really need to do this at this hour, Master?"

"It can't be helped. It's just 18:30 PM in Japan. And it's a normal Tuesday: I wanted those two to come too so…"

"Oh well. Can't be helped, then…"

Twilight was chatting with the Darkloids over an earphone and mike he carried on his head: Philip was with him as they stood inside of a small almost unlit chamber somewhere.

"I brought your suit. Go get changed." Twilight ordered.

"Roger."

Philip headed further in while Twilight opened the door and snuck out into a corridor which was poorly lit as well but it seemed to be part of some company given the workspaces which could be seen past the glass doors closing them.

"Heh, heh, heh. You couldn't see this one coming, _kyoudai_… And, anyway, almost no-one on the outside will realize… All sounds will be kept inside the building and the Dimensional Area will be invisible… We'll surely have finished before 6 AM, anyway. What a surprise they'll have when they come in and find the insides wrecked! They'll say it was a ghost! Hah!"

03:09 AM (New York Time)…

"… This is Nelaus… Floor 56… Nothing yet…"

"Roger. Maintain radio contact."

"Who'd said Twilight would decide to stage a series of battles in this building out of all places?"

"I hate to admit it but he caught us with the pants down. 10 minutes ago we all got an email from the guy challenging us to come here and to try to stop him… There was a list of floors which must be where each Darkloid is waiting at…"

"How odd, though… I mean…"

"I know."

"Heh, heh, heh. Welcome, ex – comrades…"

"Cosmo Man. I thought Cloud Man would be my opponent."

"Twilight – sama thought I could mess it up if it was Rock Man so Cloud Man and I got swapped."

"CF" Nelaus was making his way through a workspace somewhere in that building while talking with Isaac: Cosmo Man suddenly came in through another door.

"Fine. Let's fight!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"CF" Nelaus' eyes remained the same and some blonde hair popped out behind the helmet.

The helmet kept the blue coloring yet it had gained three square dots on the ear-pads and on the middle of the forehead which were colored golden, crystal and silver from left to right: a black matrix filled the rest of the helmet's surface.

The emblem remained unchanged and so did the armor protecting the base of his neck.

Yet, on the space below the emblem and before the waist belt (unchanged) the alphabet letters "N" and "S" colored in a platinum color had been drawn: the "N" was on the left and the "S" to the right of the vertical line splitting the body in two.

The shoulder design hadn't changed.

The arms' patterns remained the same yet his forearms armor was different: the armor over the wrist was transparent purple in color and the Alphabet "N" letter colored green was set over it: the space over the palm had a black circle which contained a small red dot in the middle surrounded by different scales of red from dull red to crimson red.

The fingers had transparent red rings set on each one which glowed with a dull red glow.

His waist belt design hadn't been altered and his legs' drawings and knee guards were still the same.

His boots had slightly changed because they now had red and black matrixes across their whole surface and they included those "eyes" like in the space over the hands and set on both sides of each boot.

"Elemental Cannon!"

"CF" Nelaus' right forearm got greenish armor over it, his left forearm formed red armor, his right boot gained extra bluish armor and the left boot was strengthened by yellow armor: energy flew out of each and formed a white spheroid: Isaac then pushed it forward and it became a beam of energy which expanded as it flew across the space: the attack did hit Cosmo Man and did propel him into the wall: he groaned and soon recovered.

"Sheesh. Devil. I forgot about your special built-in techniques. No consequence: I can still have you taste the despair!"

"Bring it on, Golden Boy." "CF" Nelaus taunted.

"We'll collect your bones." Isaac added.

"HMPF! We'll see who will laugh in the end! Cosmo Gate~! EAT THIS!"

03:14 AM (New York Time)…

"… Charlie~ Team here… Emptier than Empty Vanity~…"

"What the heck is that, Charles?"

"Ask HAL, my dear Dave~…"

"Sheesh."

"What floor are you at?"

"41. Nothing yet. But I suspect Swallow Man's lurking close by."

"Alright. Maintain radio contact."

"I still find it odd Twilight bothered so much."

"Obviously, Charles. To begin with: the Dimensional Area covering this building is generated from the inside with Dimensional Converters and thus can't be seen from the outside. He's recycling what his Darkloids and Umbra did in that "alternate Time – Space"… When they hijacked the Neo WWW skyscraper yet they only occupied the very top floors so there was no need to fill the whole building with a "DA"…"

"Bravo, College of Charleston!"

"Swallow Man. I knew it. Show your shallow hide."

"Not bad. Maybe I'll praise ya, College of Davidson!"

"CF" Charles' design included red boots and forearms along with brown chest armor which had a golden cross set on the middle of it: matrixes of on/off squares colored green and blue spread across his forearms and legs.

His helmet's forehead had a blue hexagon-shaped jewel set on its center which was glowing with a pale sapphire glow while his eyes' irises were blue: a mouth-guard having an outer golden edge and a main silver body formed over his mouth.

A backpack with two exhaust tubes colored silver and golden materialized and attached to his back while extending four red lines arching over his body.

These lines created a bluish ring around the chest emblem with four small black rectangles having a red dot on their center.

He had some extra armor coiling around his right arm too and he wielded a pyramidal energy saber colored blue.

"Fight!"

"Of course! Swallow Cutter!"

"CF" Charles drew the sword and blocked the incoming attack but Swallow Man was already there and he clashed his sword with "CF" Charles' one: they began to push each other but got nowhere so they jumped a step backwards to then charge in again.

"Heh, heh, heh. College of Martinson didn't come, eh?" Swallow Man chuckled.

"He had another mission to take care of anyway." "CF" Charles merely shrugged.

"Hunting for anti-swallow spray." Davis dully added.

"Not bad! The Anti-College Spray: by Swallow Shallow Man!"

"Sheesh." Both grumbled.

"Beware! You will be given 7 adventures and an adventurer!"

"Another of Vincent's useless mottos… Go soda."

"Heh, heh, heh. General Campestre's bro-in-law will bring you nightmares soon enough!"

"Tank Cannon!"

"Uack!"

The sudden change of tactics caught Swallow Man off-guard and the blast did push him away: he recovered and chuckled.

"Not bad… But not enough! This building will be your end! Hra~h!"

"We'll see about that, you neo punk! Let's go, Davis! Hra~h!"

03:20 AM (New York Time)…

"… This is Colonel… Too quiet… Floor 62…"

"Roger. Go all out on them."

"That was my intention, anyway."

"Heh, heh, heh… The ex-Colonel wants to shine~?"

"Hmpf. Show your hide."

"Demon Hand!"

"Screen Divide!"

"What!"

"Don't look down on me. Zoan Gate Man."

"Devil! Greiga Army Zoan Colonel's counterpart!"

"So what. Will blurting that out help you win, novice?"

"NOVICE? ME? I was in an army, too! The Falzer Army!"

"That doesn't say much. Armies have rookies too."

"I'll prove my power to you, you moron!"

"Fine."

Colonel had been advancing through another workspace while looking mistrusting of his surroundings: a voice rang out and Colonel turned around quickly enough to shoot his Screen Divide: it split the Demon Hand in two and Zoan Gate Man gasped: Colonel looked dull and unimpressed while Zoan Gate Man was starting to get annoyed.

"Gate Cannon!"

"Colonel Cannon!"

Colonel ducked and shot his blast which hit the stomach area of Zoan Gate Man, whose blast missed and hit the far wall: Colonel quickly rushed in and slashed to split the Gate Cannon in twice.

"What? Ugrah!"

It detonated and, using that momentary distraction, Colonel quickly assaulted Zoan Gate man several times before backing up as if being careful: Zoan Gate Man grumbled.

"Go! Gate Soldiers!"

"Gate! Gate! Gate!"

"Hmpf. Missile Rain!"

Colonel formed a multiple missile launcher and shot five of them skywards: they drew an arch and converged on different spots of Zoan Gate Man's body: they detonated and he groaned since the recoil pushed him back: Colonel suddenly flung his cloak at him to blind him and quickly rushed in to deliver an attack which plunged into his stomach area and emerged from the back: he pulled out and Zoan Gate Man growled as he tried to recover.

"Damn it." He growled.

"You picked the wrong opponent." Colonel dully announced.

"I'm not done yet! Remote Gate!"

Zoan Gate Man opened his Remote Gate and ran inside: Colonel merely looked around and spotted it forming NW of his position so he quickly drew his Colonel Cannon and aimed it there.

"Colonel Cannon!"

The blast hit Zoan Gate Man just as he was about to emerge and attack and it crippled his Gate Cannon again: Zoan Gate Man cursed and ran back inside.

"Hmpf. If you were thinking of attacking from a blind spot… Give it up: I have no blind spots."

"Damn it! I'm going to make mincemeat outta you~!"

"Threaten in vain. There you are! Screen Divider!"

03:23 AM (New York Time)…

"… Zero here… Floor 13…"

"It's not Swallow Man and we know Cloud Man will be Hikari's opponent so… It's either Yamato Man or Freeze Man…"

"I'd suspect the second. The guy has an obsession with trying to beat me which he proved last summer."

"Yeah. I know. Maintain radio contact."

"Fine."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh… Wrong, _ronin_!"

"Sheesh. So it was you, Yamato Man."

"Indeed! The campaign has begun!"

"Show your hide."

"Show your worth."

"How original."

"Isn't it?"

Zero was inspecting another floor's offices when a voice rang out: it turned out to be Yamato Man so Zero drew his sword while Yamato Man had replaced the sword by his spear.

"Thousand Spear!"

"Eat these!"

Zero swung his saber up and down and left and right to create two greenish curve-shaped energy slices which Yamato Man gracefully dodged without losing the speed or direction of his attack: Zero brought up his sword to block some of the blows and yielded terrain yet he was using Float Shoes just in case.

"Feeling careful, _ronin_? Maybe you need to borrow Shadow Man's _ninja_ sandals? Heh, heh, heh."

"How original."

"Too bad the _ronin_ couldn't come, eh?" Yamato Man taunted.

"They had another mission to take care of, anyway." Zero didn't seem to care.

"To sweep the ground with stealth!" He came up with some lame motto on the spot.

"How brilliant."

"How dull, _ronin_!"

"Are you going to fight or not? Eat this!"

Zero formed a stream of energy from his left hand and hit Yamato Man's chest armor but he didn't seem to mind it as he renewed his assault using the spear: Zero began to try to block or counter them and tried not to mind the blows that did connect.

"I find it off your Boss is being so quiet this time around."

"He wants the ever-so-prideful CIA and company to boil their brains to figure out what happened! There'll be no sensor data left behind to tell them what happened! Heh, heh, heh."

"Hmpf."

"Hra~h! Let's go!"

"Fine! Eat this!"

They resumed attacking: Zero shot another stream of energy at the guy who didn't mind it either.

"We're getting nowhere at this rate." Zero grumbled.

"I wonder about that… Dark Generator: Activate! Hra~h!" Yamato Man suddenly announced.

"Shit. I talk too fast."

"Too late, _ronin_! Regret it on the afterlife! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

03:28 AM (New York Time)…

"… Hikari here! I'm at Floor 77. I guess Cloud Man or Freeze Man will be coming for me… I think Cloud Man, though…"

"Obviously…"

"Maintain radio contact. I'm trying to find that rascal."

"Good luck."

"Same over there. Over."

"Game Over, Lucy~!"

"Cloud Man. Show your hide."

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's see what stuff ya are made of, buddies!"

"Hmpf."

"CF" Netto was exploring yet another floor and reporting to Vadous over the radio: he happened to stumble upon Cloud Man, who, as always, wanted to pull jokes.

"Heh, heh, heh. So? Did ya find Arceus, dudes?"

"Who knows?"

"Did ya see the cool creation event? I had Bapgei get Giratina: the real bad guy of the generation! Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"Oh come on." Netto grumbled.

"We didn't come here to listen to your jokes, Cloud Man." Rock Man challenged.

"Nope! Ya came here to fight me~… Let's go! Cross Thunder!"

Cloud Man formed a storm cloud which generated four streaks of lighting in the shape of a cross: the southern one hit "CF" Netto because the cloud had formed behind him: he yelped and jumped away.

"That's cowardly!"

"A Darkloid never plays fair, Mr. Smith!"

"Sheesh."

"Fine! Program Advance! Flame, Aqua, Elec, Bamboo Sword! Elemental Sword! Eat this!"

"Oho."

"CF" Netto formed the Elemental Sword and hit Cloud Man with it, since he didn't bother to block or dodge: he then drew his own sword and it glowed before he formed a copy of the Program Advance: "CF" Netto gasped and jumped out of the way just in time.

"I see. The sword copies Sword – type PAs." Rock Man guessed.

"Then I better avoid those. Then again, swords aren't my forte."

"Because _Forte_ stole them?" Cloud Man joked.

"Sheesh. Forte was just a victim of Twilight's ambition."

"By the way~… Do you know what'll happen to the VP and the Lead Soldier?"

"They'll meet Viruses? No! Wait. They'll meet Bapgei." Rock Man guessed.

"Bravo, Lestrade and Wiggins!"

"Sheesh."

"Beware! Many Cloud!"

Cloud Man formed a swarm of clouds which shot Spark Balls while a large mass of clouds spawned behind "CF" Netto: he gasped and began to focus on dodging.

"Find me inside of one of these~!" Cloud Man's voice echoed.

"Shit. Wind God Racket!"

The blast of wind dispelled the clouds but Cloud Man had already formed a Dream Sword Program Advance which he flung at "CF" Netto: he gasped and began to charge the Rock Buster to try to counter…

03:33 AM (New York Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh… Feel the despair. Rebels… The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… failure."

"Sheesh. This guy IS annoying."

"And the downside is that we need to limit ourselves because the opponent is a human."

"CF" Blues and "CF" Laika were facing Bapgei, who'd donned a weird costume.

He now wore black leather clothes which covered his whole body including a hood with goggles: it design was reminiscent of an owl's face, even.

He carried a belt spanning from the right shoulder to the left flank of his body and which had sheaths for 6 knives: it included a medallion with the drawing of an owl close to the shoulder.

Other equipment included gauntlets: the right one had metallic armor shaped like an owl's face and the left one had some sheaths for smaller knives.

The guy carried leather boots as well and two knife sheaths attached to the belt's waist.

His gear included two short swords' sheaths attached to his back.

He was now spinning clockwise and throwing knives at "CF" Laika and "CF" Blues at the same time he jumped across the corridor to try to lure them into attacking each other by accident.

"Nelaus says he's got a Dream Aura beneath those clothes and which protects the skin so at least we can do something."

"Yeah. Eat this! Flame Sword!"

"Hmpf…"

"What?"

"CF" Blues tried to hit Bapgei but he suddenly turned transparent and five knives were thrown at him from the NW: they hit his shoulders, chest above the emblem and hips.

"Shit. A 3D image…! Laika! Aim up!"

"I see him! Scope Gun!"

"CF" Laika took aim with the Scope Gun and hit Bapgei as he hung from the ceiling like a _ninja_: he merely detached and landed on his fours with grace before running towards a wall and suddenly start to climb it: he spun on it and jumped away to throw some knives at "CF" Laika which hit his knees: he winced in pain but didn't lose his aim.

"Satellite Ray!"

The satellite formed behind Bapgei and shot a laser at him but he ignored it: he rushed for "CF" Laika but "CF" Blues got in the way and attacked with the Flame Sword: he made a cut over the navel area but found that, indeed, a Dream Aura existed beneath the cloth.

"It's useless." Bapgei taunted.

"I wonder about that." Blues muttered.

"Nothing is useless. Except for your vanity." Search Man taunted.

"The Dark Side will always exist."

"Did we try to deny it, anyway?" "CF" Blues countered.

"Shut up and fight." "CF" Laika taunted.

"Fine. Heating up is over… The real deal…"

"That was heating up? Shit." "CF" Blues cursed.

"Set a Dream Aura over your chest emblem." "CF" Laika whispered.

Bapgei jumped into the air and attached to the ceiling to crawl across it heading south.

"Let's give chase! Quickly!"

03:39 AM (New York Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Did you enjoy my ice back then?"

"Not really. I didn't even notice it."

"Penguin Man."

"Why not…"

"Roll… This guy is too clever to fall for simple taunts."

"I knew it, Meiru – chan."

"CF" Roll happened to be fighting Freeze Man: the room they were in was totally frozen and filled with ice.

"This is Floor 87… Too bad you missed something a little lower…" Freeze Man taunted.

"I don't need to. Get serious, _Danna_."

"Heh, heh, heh… Fine…"

"Remember, Freeze Man! Don't screw it up. IQ – sama has an interest on those two lil girls! She wants them in one piece and alive!" Twilight hushed over the radio.

"Acknowledged."

"We heard that, cha."

"Heh, heh, heh. Starting to feel the fear? FEAR!"

"Maybe we're feeling the skepticism." Roll shot back.

"Heh, heh, heh. We'll see, we'll see… yes, my precious… Precioussss…"

"Acting like Gollum won't help you win against your _kyoudai – sama_."

"We shall see, my precious, we shall see~…" He chuckled.

"Mountain Spear!"

"Area Steal! Hell's Burner!"

"Hmpf…"

"CF" Roll warped behind Freeze Man and hit his back with the Hell's Burner but he didn't seem to notice it to begin with: "CF" Roll had already brought up a Reflect Battle Chip to shield herself from Freeze Man's next attack: he turned around and drew the sword.

"Taste the despair!"

He rushed forward and swung the sword: the attack was blocked by the shield and a counter-attack formed yet Freeze Man didn't mind it either: "CF" Roll narrowed her eyes as if suspecting that Freeze Man had some ace up his sleeves.

"Heh, heh, heh. Ice Tower!"

Eight Ice Towers rose around "CF" Roll thus forming a cage: she didn't lose her cool and merely formed aSamurai Sword Battle Chip: she quickly began to cut the three first Ice Towers while using the ice to slide towards Freeze Man: he simply drew his sword and they clashed blades: "CF" Roll looked serious and hostile.

"The fire of youth?" He taunted.

"Who knows? Maybe your Boss knows." She dully shot back.

"Not bad, not bad…" Twilight chuckled.

"There you are! Enough cat 'n mouse, Twilight! You had me climb up to Floor 103 in purpose and I'm not in the best of moods." Vadous grumbled close by.

"_Kyoudai~_… _Die~_…" He made up some lame pun.

"Die! I won't!" Vadous shot back with irony.

"Heh, heh, heh. Not bad… Let's get this show on the road!"

"CF" Roll simply jumped away and drew her bow-gun.

"Roll Arrow! Triple Burst Mode! Fire~!"

"Heh, heh, heh! Icicles Fall! Let us put out that burning fire of youth!"

03:45 AM (New York Time)…

"… Only you would think of doing this."

"Wasn't it obvious?"

"Sheesh. Trouble-maker…!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Welcome to NYC, _kyoudai_~…"

"Who else would think of hijacking the _Empire State Building_?"

"ME~!"

"Sheesh."

Vadous was fighting Twilight in the open area surrounding the spire of the Empire State Building.

Twilight had gained Navi-like armor over his body.

He wore a helmet with a mouth guard activated: his eyes' irises were visible and it could be seen that they were colored crimson red.

His chest emblem consisted on just two shades of black and white split by a horizontal grey line.

He had two curious shoulder pads which were shaped as two split halves of a diamond.

His main body's color was navy blue although the forearms and his boots were colored in purple.

A black smooth cape hung from the back of his shoulders and reached all the way to the floor as well as an add-on to his bodysuit.

He currently had two swords drawn and he was clashing them against Vadous' own drawn swords.

"And you just wanted to play clever. You gain nothing from this."

"I do gain something, you moron."

"Oh yeah? Illuminate me, Mr. Smith."

"Fear!"

"Fear? Then why did you set it up so that no – one…? Ah! I see. The fear is that people will come to work in some hours' time, will find remains of a battle in several floors, and no evidence which can tell what happened to begin with. So you set the fear of the unknown on them, the fear of that which can't be understood." Vadous analyzed.

"Bravo, Mr. Wayne~!"

"HTFKBHGXH!" He howled something undecipherable.

"Hit a vibe~?" He sneered.

"Boss…" Omega sighed over the radio.

"I know!"

"Feral! You're late for Fatman's party~!"

"Hmpf. I wonder about that." Omega didn't fall for that taunt.

"Heh, heh, heh. It's a way of killing the boredom!"

"So apart from gaining "fear" you only did this to have fun."

"Would you have preferred this to happen at rush hour? With lots of tourists inside?" He snickered.

"Sheesh."

"Heh, heh, heh. Be glad IQ – sama felt compassionate~!"

"Compassionate? Anaya? No way. She just wanted to play Duchess or something like that. Another of the bitch's random moods." He grumbled aloud.

"Don't dare to insult IQ – sama's glory~!"

Twilight's assaults suddenly turned stronger and Vadous had to yield terrain as they circled the spire: there was a familiar hum and Guilty Spark showed up there along with some Sentinels.

"Greetings."

"Monitor? Who told you we were here?"

"Reclaimer Omega did."

"Did you, Omega?" Vadous frowned.

"No. And I doubt it was this guy." Omega replied.

"I guess Sigma faked a mail." Vadous sighed.

"Sheesh. The guy doesn't learn! At least Shadow Man did get a lesson and this should keep the guy under tabs for a while, but Sigma…! I'm about to go hit the guy's head with a hammer 100 times!"

"Don't overdo it either."

"I know. I'll vent off running down the 2nd deck corridor."

"The Donut Corridor!" Twilight taunted.

"The donut which Cloud Man stole."

"What! Cloud Man! You moron! I knew it!" He grumbled.

Vadous used the momentary lack of concentration to deliver two strikes to Twilight: he recoiled and suddenly made his swords float in the air: they began to spin clockwise and shot towards Vadous: he blocked them but then Twilight attacked him with "Sith Lightning": Vadous wasn't affected in the least.

"Did you forget this armor is built of plastics and such? Vader's was more metallic because it supposedly was far more resistant."

"Sheesh."

"Hey! I've got an idea… Monitor! Send your sentinels to the coordinates I'll now transmit and record video and audio data…" Vadous suddenly grinned.

"Excellent."

"What? No!" Twilight gasped.

"Too bad. Your "fear" won't come to pass."

"DAMN YOU~!"

Twilight began to rampage by shooting lightning and remotely throwing the swords at Vadous while also forming energy balls colored purple which he threw at Vadous: none of those seemed to take effect since the balls lacked proper aiming and just hit the floor.

"My subordinates! Dispose of the interlopers!"

"What? Ah! The Sentinels! Eat these!" Freeze Man grumbled.

Vadous seemed to smirk for a split second as if he'd already thought of something else by now: he merely let Twilight continue his rampage but, in the meanwhile, Vadous' chest emblem began to glow: it suddenly released a purple flash and the Pokémon "Palkia" showed up there to block the blunt of the attacks.

"Not fair! Palkia is my pet!" He growled.

"Bite me." Vadous taunted.

"Nya~gra~h!" Twilight snarled.

"Major Ocelot would say you lack grace."

"Obey me, Palkia!"

"Pa~ru~kia~!"

"Palkia" merely rammed into Twilight and he shot into the air: he hit an invisible wall which formed some cracks: Twilight didn't seem to notice those as he tried to defeat "Palkia": Vadous quickly threw one of his swords there: it hit the center of the cracks and shattered the invisible wall like it was glass.

"What! The stealth dome…!" Twilight cursed.

"Let's light this up. Omega!"

"Roger!"

The spire's lights suddenly began to glow in a white, blue and red pattern which repeated every a few seconds.

"Bah! This hole looks out into the west side: not many pedestrians will be able to see it and…! Hey!" He realized.

"Who said I wanted pedestrians to see it?"

"Damn it. Security cameras in the adjacent buildings…!"

"Monitor! Can you disable this dome?"

"Delighted!"

Guilty Spark formed a reddish beam of energy and hit the top of the dome above the spire: the whole dome turned red and shattered like glass to expose the spire area: "Palkia" growled and swung the air with one claw to form a "tear" colored purple.

"Say hi to the Subspace Tear!" Vadous snickered.

"Damn it! Uowa~h!"

"Don't worry! It'll drop you 5 kilometers NNW of Melbourne's city edge so ya only need pick the bus back home!"

"I'll remember this…! Ouwa~h!"

Twilight was sucked into the crack and it vanished: there were some sounds of "Dimensional Converters" working and then it all returned to being silent.

"Let's pull out, guys, before the NYPD comes in and fires before asking: we'll later send a notice to explain what happened. Oh. And Omega did turn on the in-building sensors and cameras ever since we got here so there'll be more than enough recordings of what happened." Vadous ordered with a smile.

"Roger." The fighters confirmed.

"Delighted! I shall not let such an interloper get away with disabling security systems!" Guilty Spark muttered aloud.

Vadous looked over the edge at the nighttime NYC landscape.

_I foiled your ambition again, Twilight… But this isn't over. Not yet…!_


	11. Chapter 11: Of bricks and vaults

**Chapter 11: Of bricks and vaults**

00:20 AM (Chile Time), Thursday October the 3rd…

"… This place IS eerie, Master."

"Bah! Mind not, Bapgei…"

"That's easy for ya to say…"

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"No."

"Now, now… Could we calm down, Twilight – sama?"

"You Popsicle Man! Why didn't you turn the sensors and cameras off again, huh?"

"How could I know they were running? I was busy fighting, sir! All of us were, sir, and we couldn't move our attention elsewhere!"

"Sheesh!"

"Lovely. So? What's our goal here, Freeze Man?"

"I don't know either. He said he'd found this place and wanted to try to find some super-weapon…"

"I doubt those guys were stupid enough to leave one roaming around especially after what happened to them…"

"My point exactly yet… You know."

"Yeah. Lovely way to start October, really…"

Twilight, Freeze Man and Bapgei (having that suit he'd sported the other day on) were walking down a large unlit avenue with stone buildings rising at both sides of it: the avenue seemed to have had some painting on the ground long ago but only minimal traces of it remained, as if it had worn out through time and humidity: Twilight looked in a foul mood while the other two seemed to be defeatist.

"I'll get ULTIMATE POWER! Just like my _bunshin_!"

"What's a "bunshin"?" Bapgei asked Freeze Man.

"In short… A clone. A spin-off. An alter-ego… A copy of you." Freeze Man summed up.

"Didn't Shadow Man use something like that?"

"Hmpf. True. "Shadow Clone"… Very popular in animation series and manga and always associated with _ninja_ characters… I think that it even figures in those games you have and which Cloud Man hacks…"

"Pokémon?"

"Ah, yes. That was the name. Well. Now I remember that, 2 years ago, we hacked the most powerful of them out of Nintendo's servers and set them in attack groups. They were all defeated but it served its purpose: to make people fear these "childish games" because they could now appear in the real world if we wanted to…"

"Yeah. Cloud Man used to brag a lot about that."

"If memory serves… I think that, in the overseas version, the move was renamed "Double Team"… Maybe they thought that people who didn't know Japanese culture wouldn't get it…"

"Sounds like it, yeah…"

"Come out! Super-laser! Super-weapon!" Twilight was grumbling aloud in the meanwhile and apparently ignoring the other two.

"This place gives me the creeps. You don't know what could be lurking in the shadows…"

"Reminds me of a science fiction novel… _Rendezvous with Rama_… A small team explores a gigantic cylindrical spacecraft hurling across the Solar System and which is totally unlit. It has some "cities" sprawled over its inner surface, too… Filled with sealed buildings… There was no way of knowing what lurked in the night…" Freeze Man explained.

"Rama, huh… Like the gang…"

"Yes. Funny coincidences in life…" He shrugged.

"I'm the _daimaou_ Twilight! Show your hides! I've come to gain ABSOLUTE POWE~R!" Twilight proclaimed.

"What was _daimaou_ again? My bad, Freeze Man."

"Don't mind it. "Great Demon King"…"

"Wasn't Ganondorf named "Great Evil King"?"

"That was in the overseas version."

"And why not "Demon" while they were at it?"

"I don't know. Cloud Man seemed to think Nintendo of Ameroupe didn't want to have a fight with the religious topic… Hence why they renamed "Triforce of the Gods" into "A Link to the Past"…"

"The SNES title was originally named "Triforce of the Gods"? Sounds more straight-forward than NoA's title… It makes it sound like you're travelling to the past when you don't."

"Maybe they meant that Ganon was a "link" to the past, to the era of the Sealing War…" Freeze Man shrugged.

"Could be. Oh well. Let them be."

"Those weaklings! Who could criticize them for translating a game about demon kings? It's a fantasy! Don't those guys always warn of Hell and devils, anyway? How ridiculous!" Twilight sneered.

"Oh boy." Bapgei sighed.

"Twilight – sama, let us not begin a debate and…!"

"POPSCILE MEN SHOULD STAY QUIET AND MELT AWAY~!"

"By all the… I'm about to go mad. And here I thought Cloud Man was unbearable." He slapped his forehead.

"Join the club, Boss."

"I get the irony, Bapgei."

"Show your hide, little blessed, despicable and repellent MICE~!"

The other two merely sighed and they gasped when Twilight stopped all of a sudden and they crashed with his back.

"Aha-hah! Look, you acolytes!"

"Acolytes?" Both sighed.

They spotted a wide ramp heading underground: the avenue seemed to continue through it since a large stone wall several meters tall rose further in and above.

"The bowels! Reeking of reclusion!"

"How original." Both drily muttered.

"Let's go, acolytes!"

"Huff."

They began to descend the ramp and found a tunnel which spread further in: Twilight was looking around anxiously and soon spotted a wall which had a different shade of gray: he rushed over there and began to examine it with the hands.

"The stone feels different! This must be a hidden doorway! Open, Sesame~!" He laughed.

"Like that'll work." Both skeptically muttered.

Twilight began to move his hands across the surface and, when he pressed one tile, it emitted a blue flash for a split second: Twilight grinned and the other seemed to be surprised so they headed closer to it: another tile and another began to glow.

"Heh, heh, heh. Lucky Lucy~!"

"Oh boy."

"Open, Lucy~!"

THUD!

"Gruo~h…!"

"A-are you OK, Boss?"

"Twilight – sama?"

One of the tiles suddenly shot outwards along with the rest of its body and hit Twilight in the in-between: he clutched that area and collapsed on his knees: that same brick suddenly hit his nose followed by another which popped out a bit below and which impacted against his torso: the blow did make him collapse face-up on the floor as more bricks began to pop out before they moved and formed two rows left and right thus revealing an opening.

"Damn it all! Who the hell designed this? Some drunken DJ with a punk wig?" He cursed.

"How original."

"Did ya say SOMETHIN'?"

"No, sir."

"Then move it! Treasure is up ahead!"

He quickly stood up and ran inside so both followed with a sigh along a small tunnel which seemed wide enough to fit two persons: there was a red line splitting the ground in half and extending across it: this line seemed to have conserved better than the others.

"Heh, heh, heh. The staff tunnel! It must lead straight to the _sancta sanctorum_!"

"I'm surprised this thing moved after such a long time."

"Maybe there's some backup energy system which absorbs environment EM energy… I did detect a lot of highly magnetized ore around this area so it's not a crazy idea…" Freeze Man suggested.

"But I'm sure the main energy systems fell out of order a long, long time ago anyway. We'll be lucky to find anything which moves." Bapgei whispered to Freeze Man.

"Good point."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! The mines of King Solomon are mine~! El Dorado is mine~!"

"What's with those mottoes?" Bapgei sighed.

"Don't ask me." Freeze Man sighed next.

BRO~M!

"BARIBARIBARI~!"

"Whoa!"

Rumbling rang out and a bolt of lightning formed out of nowhere as Twilight had come out into a wide round room: he got hit and electrocuted so he uttered something undecipherable and collapsed into the ground.

FLOASH!

"Mugra~h! I'M BURNIN'!"

"W-what in the…?"

Some flames popped out of nowhere next and assaulted Twilight, setting his front in fire: they vanished as quickly as they had formed and he grumbled as he stood up.

"Some lame anti-intruder system alright!" He grumbled.

"Felt like some mockery to me…" Bapgei hushed.

"I totally agree."

"Aha-hah! There it is! The Holy Grail!"

"He calls _that_ "Holy Grail"…?" Bapgei sighed.

"Twilight – sama…! Cool it down, sir…!" Freeze Man exasperatedly muttered.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Mine! All of it is mine~!"

"If it moves, that is." Both muttered.

Twilight rushed towards a hexagon-shaped computer-like machine which could be about 5 meters tall and 1 wide: several doorways could be seen around the room: Twilight had begun to try to study the empty black grooves stretching across the height of the machine: it didn't seem to have any screens or keyboards or any input/output system: and it looked totally dead anyway.

"Hra~h! EAT THIS!"

Twilight shot "Sith Lightning" at the machine: the grooves began to glow with blue energy which travelled upwards and the machine began to hum louder and louder: several holographic screens formed in the air and began to display mysterious rows of glyphs before displaying what seemed to be some crest.

"I knew it! Duo's Crest! Heh, heh, heh… And I still have the 13 ones I got years ago in the "other" Time – Space! I was wise enough to make copies of these just in case."

"Duo's Crest" had a general shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" but it had two short rectangular extensions close to the base aiming outwards and two small triangles on the inner sides: these triangles were aiming towards a hollow diamond set in the center of the opening: the whole thing was colored black.

"Allow me in!"

Twilight formed 13 of them around himself and they flew into the computer: the screens began to display schematics of some sort plus a 3D model of a dome-shaped "city" which had several circular levels, buildings, large arches spreading from a central dome and other structures: it seemed to be built inside of a large cave.

"Heh, heh, heh. This is the "Space City" which the "Crest Holders" visited in the "Other" Time – Space… The design here, though, seems to have some differences… And there weren't any guardians or anything either so I guess that things were a bit different here… Maybe this belongs to another colony… And this cavern is built inside of the Andes Mountains on Chile's side of the mountains!" Twilight chuckled.

"I see. But we must hurry: we don't know how long the "Sith Lightning" will last…"

"I know. I'm trying to find anything worth it."

"But how can we translate it, anyway?"

"It's data! There must be some logic to it: maybe we can turn it into binary, re – encode it, and turn it into something readable. Maybe we'll get a blunt and rough translation but that'll do for the time being."

"Huh? Who goes there! Eat these!"

Bapgei suddenly drew his knives and threw the 10 of them towards a spot behind him and aiming for the wall: they got repelled by something invisible and they hit the floor: the other two turned around and they could make out the vague shape of someone quickly moving to the right while keeping close to the wall: when they got close to the trio, they jumped at them so Twilight drew his swords.

"Die!"

The attacker was faster and rammed into Twilight, knocking him to the left and into the ground while vanishing into a doorway to the west: Twilight got back to his feet and grumbled.

"Zoan Gate Man! Your turn! Chase that thing!"

"Roger."

"You two stay here: the defender or whatever it is could be coming back for more… How did you spot them, Bapgei?" Twilight asked.

"I felt that the shade of the wall had changed by some percentage during the last 2 or 3 minutes… I thought it was better to shoot the first shot and prove to them what stuff we're made of." Bapgei described while signaling that spot.

"Heh, heh, heh. Good, good! You're really making use of my training: that's what I wanted to see!"

"Of course, Master." He shrugged.

"This is Zoan Gate Man. I've lost track of it on the main dome, where his parliament – like chamber is at."

"Parliament – like chamber, eh? Interesting. So they had some level of politics…" Twilight looked amused.

"Or maybe it was a meeting place for them to discuss strategies or new experiments too…" Freeze Man suggested.

"We can solve that later."

"I am afraid you have run out of time." A familiar voice announced in slightly accented English.

"That voice! The son of a bitch!" Twilight growled.

The "figure" from before dropped from above and it turned out to be Xon' Edos who looked slightly amused: Bapgei launched his knives again and quickly rushed in while drawing his short swords: both attacks were repelled by some kind of field: Freeze Man drew his sword and rushed in but go nowhere either.

"Eat this! Destruction Beam!"

Twilight formed a yellowish beam of energy which hit the barrier and got broken into multiple sub-beams which began to loop around it before forming a new beam and shooting back at Twilight: he got hit on his chest emblem and propelled backwards, hitting the computer: it hummed and shut down.

"Shit. At least I got something outta it… But I'm not pulling out without blowing ya to shreds, pawn!" He growled.

"I rather object."

He drew two thin yellow swords and quickly clashed with Twilight's own swords: Twilight roared and began to push back.

"Hra~h! I'm the Obscure Demon King, Twilight! I'll bury you lowlife here and now!"

"Boasting does not lead to victory." He coolly announced.

"You set up those traps!"

"Indeed. Omega suggested to me that they would be effective at a psychological level. It would seem he was right."

"Damn it! Feral! It had to be Feral!"

"Sheesh." The other three sighed.

Twilight channeled his "Sith Lightning" into the swords and hit Xon' Edos' arms yet he didn't seem to mind that to begin with: he merely flew a short distance away and crossed his swords to form a cross-shaped energy attack which hit Twilight.

"Grah! I'm supposed to be the ultimate!"

"I do not think so. That is another illusion you yourself have built: if it was the case, how could you have lost so many times insofar?"

"Sheesh! _Kyoudai_! And the guy's parsel-tongue~!"

"How original." Bapgei grumbled.

"Huff… Zoan Gate Man… Get ready to pull us out…" Freeze Man whispered.

"Yeah. Else things will end up worsening…"

"Eat this! Destruction Beam!"

Twilight shot the Destruction Beam at Xon' Edos again and hit him fully yet there were but a few scratches, cuts and burns left after the blow: Twilight cursed under his breath and began to slowly step backwards.

"D-DAMN IT! RETREAT!"

"Remote Gate!"

The four of them rushed into the Remote Gate while Xon' Edos merely landed in the ground and shrugged.

"I guess I was starting to remind them of Slur… Hmpf… The data they got was largely incomplete so… No harm inflicted… Let us go."

17:47 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Daddy~! Help me~!"

"What now, Yaito."

"The guys!"

"You angered them?"

"They ignore me~!"

"So?"

"They act like I don't exist! I can't bear it anymore! It's been over a week ever since they began!"

"And what if that was because you pushed them to that edge?"

"W-WHAT? Put in simple words, daddy~!"

"Huff. Yaito…!"

Yaito ran into the living room of her family manor while crying and looking hysterical: Mr. Ayanokouji looked up from some documents he had been working with while sitting next to the table with a sigh: Yaito began to look at him from the left.

"You've been pushing it."

"Pushing WHAT?"

"Their patience."

"HUH?" She didn't seem to get any of it.

"Huff. Yaito! They're fed up with your jokes!" He summed up with an exasperated sigh.

"But other times…!"

"They were unsure of how to react. But now they've gone serious to prove that there's a limit."

"A limit to what?"

"To your jokes and pranks: wasn't it obvious enough? If you can't even realize that how can you hope to inherit Gabcom? It isn't about having business knowledge: you must also know how to interact with people and get the best out of them! It's a pillar of life! Essential!" He scolded her as he turned the chair to face her.

"But…! Sigma and Shadow Man and…!"

"Don't try to elude the topic! When they went off-board with their jokes they got punished so that they would learn the lesson. And you had it coming ever since LONG ago, Yaito."

"I knew it." Glyde sighed in defeat.

"WHY DIDN'T CHA TELL ME, BAT-GLIDER?"

"I tried to, Yaito – sama! But you, ma'am, would ignore me!" He politely argued back.

"Obviously." Her dad sighed.

"No way!"

"Way, Yaito."

"What I should I do, then?"

"Apologize, obviously enough! And then prove that you've earned the lesson and that you will scale down your behavior. As long as you don't bombard them 24/7 with pranks and jokes then they should tolerate you and accept you back into their circle. But a verbal apology won't be enough for me: I want you to write a letter in which you apologize and promise to behave. You will read it aloud in front of them." He instructed to her.

"D-do I really need to do that?" She gasped.

"DO IT!" He ordered.

"Y-yes, daddy~!"

She ran off and he sighed before he stood up.

"What am I going to do with this girl…? I'm glad that they finally told her there's a limit to her behavior. That couldn't continue as it was: she was starting to trivialize topics which shouldn't be spoken of in public to begin with…" He muttered.

He sat back on the chair and drew a PET: he dialed a number and Glyde's face appeared onscreen.

"Yes, Ayanokouji – sama?"

"Is Yaito writing the letter?"

"Yes, sir. She requested strawberry milk and drank some of it before starting to write."

"Good. Make sure she doesn't do anything else than that. And that it's properly written: four lines written in a rush won't do. And she must sign it too." He instructed.

"Roger, sir."

"Ah! And watch out for security just in case: we don't want a rival company to come in and steal some of our projects, do we?" He warned as well.

"Don't worry, sir. We installed one of those "maze" defense systems plagued with traps and strong Security Navis. Intruders who come in a rush will find themselves repelled in the blink of an eye. We've run simulations and tests already, sir." He explained.

"Good. But don't rely too much on that: you never know. Have more than one extra defense line ready and tested."

"Roger, sir."

"More strawberry milk!" Yaito complained on the background.

"Roger, Mistress."

"And make sure she doesn't exhaust the stock." He grumbled.

"R-roger, sir. I'll try to, sir… Oh boy…"

21:06 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… What can we come up with in the meanwhile?"

"Hmmm… How about you go all out on Rama?"

"Rama? Why not. They've gotten in the way too much as of late: it would be wise to teach them the consequences of defying us."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Interestin', by Kong and Pong!"

"Save those idiotic rhymes for another time, Cloud Man."

"Grrr… My blood's stirring…! You interrupted by meditation!"

"That's why I'm telling you to do it elsewhere, Yamato Man."

"I know you have a point, Cosmo Man, but…!"

"I'd rather not fight. I need more training."

"Fine. You'll be the backup to pull us out if things go awry."

Freeze Man was talking with the other Darkloids inside of Twilight's laptop and trying to come up with ideas: Philip (without the disguise and having his usual clothes on) had been sitting on the sofa and came up with an idea which Freeze Man seemed to like: Cloud Man got cocky and came up with a lame pun, Swallow Man grumbled, Yamato Man got annoyed, Cosmo Man sighed and Zoan Gate Man said that he didn't feel like fighting so Freeze Man shrugged.

"Shallow Swallow Man!"

"How original." Swallow Man folded his arms.

"Cloud Man! Go away! Now!" Freeze Man hissed.

"Uo~h! Off with the Off Door!"

Cloud Man ran outta the Cyber World and the others fumed while Philip rolled his eyes and picked a Nintendo DS right next to the laptop: he turned it on and checked it.

"Hmmm… He didn't come inside. Well. I'd disabled the wireless so…"

"But what happened there?" Cosmo Man was asking Freeze Man in the meanwhile.

"I guess Twilight – sama realized he wasn't in a condition for a prolonged fight or a rational battle style so he had to begrudgingly accept that he had to pull out. It's no wonder he's gone somewhere to cool off. As long as he returns in a better mood…" Freeze Man explained.

"I'm still working on trying to re-encode the data but I need another little while… Insofar, what I could make out with some effort is that there were up to 57 experiments of several types running at peak time one day but I dunno the exact day or hour. It doesn't say what the experiments were about or what field they focused on either." Zoan Gate Man reported with a sigh.

"At least we've got a start. Try to translate more: it could help change Twilight – sama's mood when he comes back from his walk. Anything we can put together will do."

"Roger. Let's resume work, Legion 64!"

"Metto~!"

"While you guys work on that I'm going to cook myself something. It's pretty late but I don't care. Once I'm done I'll play a while and then go rest: I might have to go out in another mission soon for all I know." Philip stood up and picked the Nintendo DS.

"Roger. We'll prepare our strategies and come up with something to lure the Rama members into the open. At least we know the civilian ID of two of them thanks to that ex-member Twilight – sama hired in the summer for a few days… We'll send mails to them… And Twilight – sama supposedly knows the leader's civilian ID but he didn't tell me. But we'll have enough with sending automated mails to the Navis."

"And such… We depart for the front!" Yamato Man chuckled.

"To war! With Rama!" Freeze Man rallied.

"HORRAY~!"


	12. Chapter 12: Allies VS Foes

**Chapter 12: Allies VS Foes**

08:37 AM (Japan Time), Saturday October the 5th…

"… Excuse me."

"Huh? Ah! Laser Man. Dr. Regal needs some files?"

"Indeed. He would like your newest analysis of the enemy's DC wavelength range and such…"

"No problem. I was about to call Dr. Regal to give those to him to begin with so…"

"Excellent."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh… Sink in the Universe's "Dark", one who resides in Purgatory…"

"Darkloid Cosmo Man. Show your hide. And your irony would only anger children to begin with."

"We shall see!"

"Oh heck. Trouble knocks at the door? What have I done to deserve this, anyway?"

"We'd all like to know, Obihiro – kun…"

"Dr. Regal… See: that's how things are like."

"Yes. Laser Man. Lead Cosmo Man to somewhere outside the firewalls. Go all out."

"Acknowledged, sir."

Laser Man had come to the Cyber World of Obihiro's PC to ask for some files: Cosmo Man suddenly showed up using his Cosmo Gate: Laser Man wasn't impressed: Obihiro groaned as Dr. Regal sighed and came in to issue orders to Laser Man.

"Purgatory Man can attack?" Cosmo Man taunted.

"HMPF!" Laser Man fumed.

"Cosmo Buster!"

"Twin Lasers!"

"What!"

Cosmo Man formed his row of planetoids with rings which he shot at Laser Man but he loaded up both back-mounted weapons and shot two red and thick twin lasers which impacted the shoulders and began to focus energy there: some of the armor began to be cut away by them as they moved up and down: Laser Man had also erected a Dream Aura which only left openings for the lasers so as to deflect the Cosmo Buster attack: Cosmo Man gasped and stepped back, surprised.

"That's a new technique!"

"Studying a lot of battle techniques… I came to the conclusion that most Navis hold onto their existing techniques because it makes battle easier and predictable. However, I didn't want to fall into that category so I sought to expand my array of techniques. And to demonstrate my knowledge of lasers: these lasers have been calibrated to be able to cut through a steel beam in 30 seconds." He explained.

"What! Damn it. What a start. Bah! I won't let my armor be hit for longer than 30 seconds! I'll crush you into DUST!"

"Be my guest."

"Cosmo Gate~! Die~!"

"Star Breaker Laser!"

Laser Man aimed his lasers skywards and shot a large beam which opened a reddish swirl on the sky from which several incandescent meteors fell: they all collided with the planetoids Cosmo Man had formed and took them out: Cosmo Man was taken aback again and lowered his guard so the lasers struck back and managed to cut through his shoulder armor and his shoulders: Cosmo Man groaned.

"Damn it. My shoulders hurt like hell. Auto-repair program: start! I can't fight in such a state and I'm not going to give up so easily!"

His shoulders glowed as several black spots formed over them and they got repaired yet the lasers hit his chest armor next and began to cut through the layers of it: Cosmo Man grumbled.

"Damn it. I must cool it or I'm going to mess it up. We came up with this to try to improve Twilight – sama's mood and it'll actually worsen it if it keeps up like this."

"Feeling the despair? You might go back already. We've got far more important jobs to do than to fight you." Laser Man taunted.

"Grrr…! Cosmo Ring!"

The Cosmo Ring began to glow with energy and its outer shell detached to reveal a purplish-colored energy-made ring beneath it: Laser Man quickly opened a hole on the Dream Aura behind him and used Float Shoes to hover away as the Cosmo Ring hit the Dream Aura and produced a sudden white flash and explosion followed by a sonic boom: a crater was left behind where the Dream Aura had been at.

"Like we thought… You can use some form of anti-matter. But since we've analyzed it with an expert… We can predict how you will use it and prepare counter-attacks…" Dr. Regal muttered.

"Devil. Annihilator Man, head of Rama…! Freeze Man – sama will eventually bury them in tundra!"

"That remains to be seen. He couldn't even bury Rock Man 5 years ago despite his clear superiority, could he?" Dr. Regal taunted.

"Grrrr! That damned Heat Man got in the way! That's why! Had the man come 1 minute later… Freeze Man – sama would have won! But that matters not! I'll bury you in eternal "Dark"!"

"You will try…"

Laser Man used another distraction to attack the knee armor with his lasers and cut through some of its layers: Cosmo Man seemed to flinch and be unable to step forward.

"Shit. I can use other techniques too! Sonic Boom!"

He drew the sword and swung it to create a Sonic Boom which travelled across the air and headed for Laser Man.

"Cross Laser!"

He formed a cross-shaped mass of yellowish energy: the Sonic Boom seemed to absorb it and then flung back at Cosmo Man yet he ducked and it hit the far wall: Cosmo Man's knee armor got repaired so he brandished the sword and rushed for Laser Man who merely drew a Mega Cannon Battle Chip.

"Pontiac Cannon: On."

The Mega Cannon began to rattle as if it was a machinegun and shot several rounds of explosive cartridges which exploded on impact and opened several holes on the chest armor: Laser Man let the recoil push him back as he formed a diagonal of holes starting at the right shoulder and ending on the SW corner of the armor, at the waist's height: the rounds paralyzed Cosmo Man and Laser Man quickly attacked those damaged areas with the lasers to finish cutting through the armor and apparently penetrating inside of the body.

"Mugro~h! The Dark Generator…! Activate! I'll return all of this damage into you~…! Traitor of the Dark Side~!"

"Hmpf. I have committed sins in the past. I am amending for them: didn't you yourself say I'm in Purgatory?" Laser Man shot back.

"Shit! Mugrura~h!"

"Cease the attack, Laser Man. Strategy Counter."

"Roger, sir."

Cosmo Man managed to turn on his "Dark Generator" and formed the silhouette of energy around him yet it flickered on and off and seemed to be unstable: Cosmo Man tried to detach it from him and had it fly towards Laser Man but was unable to avoid pieces of it splinting apart or re-forming at weird spots along the way.

"Damn it. My Dark Generator got damaged…! Whatever! DIE~!"

"Have it back, by all means."

"HUH?"

Laser Man simply extended his palms forward and shot two thin blue-colored lasers which hit the mass and circled around it thus creating an energy cage: it flew back towards Cosmo Man who gasped and opened the Cosmo Gate at ground level to suck it before closing it: despite that, though, the explosion ensued and "tore open" the "other dimension" which the Cosmo Gate allowed access to: the shockwave ended up shattering the chest armor into shards along with most of the armor including the helmet, revealing Cosmo Man's face below it: he looked angered and furious.

"Muwa~ro~h!" He roared.

His head flickered and vanished to be replaced by a pale-skinned man with blackish hair and yellow eye pupils: he emitted a guttural howl as well before the enemy vanished into a Remote Gate which opened behind them: Laser Man shrugged.

"They underestimated the opponent, as usual."

"Wow." Obihiro whistled.

"The automatic cannon and the heavy lasers were inspired by some novels by author Michael A. Stackpole titled "Battle Mech"… It talks of gigantic war robots piloted by humans which become the grand war machines: most of them are equipped with these weapons…" Dr. Regal explained to Obihiro with a smile.

"Hmpf. Well! They shall think it twice before relying on anger to guide them to victory: maybe they will go back to their attrition strategy of two years ago when they drew all combatants to their edges… Once they find a way to concentrate in battle they will become a dangerous opponent indeed…" Laser Man warned.

"True. We can't lower the guard."

"Yes, sir… Not like I'd let those guys get away with it…!"

08:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So? Who calls me out to this warehouse?"

"Me! Yamato Man!"

"Hmpf… Neo Gospel… Fine… I wanted to shake off the rustiness of my skills so… You lowlife will provide entertainment…"

"Yeah… The callous and serious type… That's the type of foe I was looking for, Rama's Axe Man!"

"Hmpf… Stick out your neck… I'll be taking it."

"We'll see about that! Thousand Spear!"

"What? Ah! Burning spears… You aim to melt the armor wherever you hit me at, huh? So you can use the head."

"Who said we couldn't?"

"Hmpf. Whatever. Axe Raider!"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…"

"Hmpf…"

Axe Man stepped into a warehouse's Cyber World and found Yamato Man waiting there: he didn't seem to be surprised or impressed by Yamato Man's cocky behavior: Yamato Man began to attack and Axe Man quickly spotted the new technique Yamato Man was using so he blocked the incoming attacks with his axe: he then swung the axe to form a cross-shaped attack which Yamato Man repelled by quickly spinning his spear clock-wise.

"You'll have to do better than that, Kenobi." Yamato Man taunted.

"Hmpf… Fine. Axe Crash!"

Axe Man lifted his weapon and hit the floor with: a fissure opened and reddish energy popped out from it while hitting Yamato Man from below: he grumbled something and stepped to the left before running towards Axe Man again.

"Hra~h! Thousand Spear!"

Yamato Man charged in again and Axe Man was able to block some of the attacks while others made contact and opened some holes on the armor yet he had another layer below it: Yamato Man grumbled and seemed to reconsider his strategy.

"What's wrong? Did you really think we'd be so foolish as to only have one layer of armor? Or maybe you live in a world wrapped by a reality distortion field?" Axe Man taunted.

"Sheesh!"

Yamato Man switched to the sword and charged: Axe Man simply swung to the right and brought down the axe to block the charge and repel Yamato Man's sword: the guy recoiled and tried again but, this time, he jumped into the air and tried to aim for Axe Man's head: Axe Man simply used an Area Steal and moved out of range so Yamato Man's sword hit the ground and got stuck there: Yamato Man quickly unstuck it and aimed it skywards to create purple lightning which began to fall down around the area: Axe Man merely extended his left hand upwards and captured some of it into the shape of a tennis ball.

"We've got some resources at hand."

"Sheesh! Not yet! It's not over yet!"

"Did I say that to begin with? Impatient lot."

"Grrr… I must not lose my cool! Hra~h!"

Yamato Man rushed into attacking again and managed to lay a cut across Axe Man's armor slightly above the waist: Axe Man simply freed the energy ball and several bolts of lightning hit Yamato Man's armor yet he didn't seem to be affected by those.

"My armor is designed to be immune to those!"

"How clever."

"Grrr! Shut up! I'll decimate you here and now!"

"Try it."

Yamato Man suddenly flew skywards and drew the sword: he formed several reddish balls of energy about a meter tall each and began to hit them with the sword to shoot them at the ground and bombard Axe Man with them yet he quickly used the axe to deflect some of those or to split them in half: Yamato Man formed multiple copies of his spear and the daggers were colored purple.

"Poison bug, huh." Axe Man guessed.

"Die."

He added those to the bombardment and, despite Axe Man's efforts to block or destroy them, some got past his defense and stuck on his armor to then self-delete: some purple bubbles began to pop out from the spots where he'd been hit at.

"Mwah, hah, hah! I'll slowly trim off your HP points and then I'll deliver the final blow! I'm a genius!"

"I wonder about that."

"What?"

"Axe Slash!"

"Whoa!"

Axe Man reacted faster than what Yamato Man was expecting and formed an energy attack shaped like the Alphabet "X" symbol: the attack did hit Yamato Man because he'd lowered the guard and also inflicted paralysis given how he suddenly became rigid and fell into the ground with a loud CRASH sound while opening a crater: Axe Man used Float Shoes to rush over there and Yamato Man jumped out of the crater while having a mass of flames spiraling around his spear: a dragon's head could be seen atop the spear.

"Spear Dragon!"

"Hmpf… Fine… Come!"

The "Spear Dragon" roared and jumped off the spear to act like a Salamander Battle Chip: it arched skywards and then fell on Axe Man's position: he merely used the axe to shield most of the blast: Yamato Man rushed in and plunged his sword through a wound on the armor yet he got stuck in the second layer: Axe Man gripped the axe with both hands and used the spear set atop it to push Yamato Man away while delivering several hits to the center of the chest armor: Yamato Man pulled out while the flames died out.

"Ah. True. By the way. The heat boiled up the poison." Axe Man calmly let out.

"What did you say? Damn it! My own strategy backfires at me!" Yamato Man growled.

"You want to impress but you don't think of the consequences. I'll grant to you lot that you do better than those "Gods" who showed up during the Desert Wraiths campaign but that's all. You still have a long way ahead of you lot before you can become efficient."

"And now you come to lecture me!"

"If you must."

Yamato Man roared and formed another Spear Dragon which he shot at Axe Man: he let it hit him and Yamato Man rushed in with the burning spears to try to make it through the second layer of armor: Axe Man suddenly brought down the axe atop Yamato Man's head and formed a crack there: Yamato Man gasped and quickly warped away to reappear behind Axe Man: he began to strike his rear armor as well but Axe Man simply formed a Mega Cannon turret which began to blast Yamato Man's chest at close-quarters: the blasts momentarily stunned him so Axe Man turned around and swung the axe to hit the shoulder armor: they got bent and the blow did push Yamato Man away to fall into the ground: he quickly got back to his feet.

"Damn. Time to go for desperate measures!"

"Coming? Come."

"Dark Generator: On!"

Yamato Man turned on the Dark Generator yet he didn't seem to notice how some of the energy was leaking out through the crack atop the helmet: his "silhouette" formed yet it was slowly losing mass and thickness.

"Heh, heh, heh! The end! Be gone! Dark Twin!"

"Come."

The "Dark Twin" flew for Axe Man but he simply formed a copy of his own axe which he flung at the "Dark Twin": the contact it with it turned the "Dark Twin" black and solid and froze it on the spot.

"What in the…?"

Yamato Man rushed over there and touched the frozen "Dark Twin" yet he suddenly gasped.

"Damn it!"

The "solid skin" suddenly shattered and the "Dark Twin" exploded: its shockwave sent Yamato Man flying but he managed to recover mid-air and fly skywards to avoid the rest of the energy release: Axe Man had instead formed a pit on the ground and hidden there: the explosion soon calmed down and Axe Man jumped back into the ground while Yamato Man landed down.

"It was a temporary "skin" combined with a magnetic field to keep it trapped… Annihilator Man – sama provided it."

"Shit. We forgot about the man. Bah! Freeze Man – sama will remind them the consequences of defying Neo Gospel! But this is no victory and no defeat! It's a tactical withdrawal! Farewell!"

Yamato Man stepped into the Remote Gate and escaped while Axe Man shrugged.

"Mission accomplished." He reported.

"Good work. Come back." "Present" commanded.

08:57 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Mugro~h… Past is still nappin' so I'm gonna go and take in this challenge in the meanwhile! I'm autonomous, anyway."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah. General Campestre's bro-in-law says you're fired, my chum!"

"Mugro~h! Ya are Cloud Man!"

"Yessir! Cloud Riding Mutant Man!"

"Man. That was lame."

"Mwah, hah, hah! I wonder 'bout that, Ugly Bane!"

"Durin's Bane!"

"Ugly Bane~! Darth Bane Strikes Back With A Court Of Owls!"

"Grrr…! My blood's boiling!"

"Boil ya brains trying to count the Empire State Building's floors!"

"You're asking for it!"

"For a ramming ram!"

"Mugro~h! Hell Tornado~!"

"Whoa!"

Balrog had come to a bridge suspended over a gigantic hole in a worn-down and decaying-looking area of Internet City: Cloud Man was waiting there and he began to come up with silly mottoes plus purposely annoying Balrog: he roared and swung his right claw rightwards to create a tornado made of flames: they all leapt into Cloud Man and began to burn away his cloak yet his armor was unaffected: Cloud Man jumped towards Balrog but he repelled him by punching straight ahead: Cloud Man crashed into a tall tower behind him and ended up inside so Balrog took off with his wings and flew upwards towards there.

"I'm gonna turn ya into SCRAP!" Balrog roared.

"PARCS! Parks & Parcs!" Cloud Man laughed.

"Grhtnthx!" He growled something undecipherable.

Balrog got inside and found Cloud Man waiting for him inside of the emptied floor which only had the steel beams supporting the building there: Balrog inhaled and shot a torrent of flames which Cloud Man dodged by rolling across the ground to the right: Balrog looked over there next and spotted Cloud Man running towards him while having the sword drawn so Balrog drew a whip of fire and flung it at Cloud Man to pick the sword and toss it asides: Cloud Man kept on rushing towards him, nevertheless, and he skid underneath his feet taking profit of Balrog's air-bone state: he placed a Count Bomb beneath Balrog's feet and the explosion, despite not producing a single scratch, was enough to momentarily distract him: Cloud Man picked the sword and stabbed it on Balrog's exposed tail: Balrog howled and whipped around while hitting the floor with the punches as if trying to crush Cloud Man who merely ran around in circles.

"Stay still you damned mouse!"

"I don't want to, Mr. Ugly Bane! Darth Bane wants his glory back: along with his light-saber!" Cloud Man laughed.

"GROA~WA~H!"

"Balrog…! What's with the scandal? You woke me up!" "Past" complained over his line while barely repressing a yawn.

"This damned slippery mouse~!"

"What mouse?"

"The damned mouse!"

"Speak clearly, man! I don't get anything."

"So ya are Past, eh? Did ya like the summer party? From what I got told, ya got thrown into the pool!"

"Cloud Man! You're fighting Cloud Man?"

"Of course! The rascal called me out here!"

"Lovely."

"Ain't it, buddy~?"

"Ask your intelligence." "Past" shot back.

"Mwah, hah, hah."

Cloud Man suddenly stopped in front of a beam and began to make stupid hand gestures as if taunting Balrog: he roared and punched the beam since Cloud Man ducked and it got bent: Cloud Man made a cut on the tail and then rushed to the other beam: Balrog tried to ram into Cloud Man but he ran away again and the beam got bent.

"Stop, Balrog! He's trying to bring down the upper floors into you along with the rest of the building!" "Past" warned.

"Shit! So the rascal wanted me to kick 'em here!"

"In essence."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah." Cloud Man laughed.

"Enough of this farce. On my signal… Did you get it?" "Past" whispered some instructions to him.

"… OK!" Balrog seemed to agree with his plan.

"Oho? Did ya go fetch Gandalf?"

"Who knows?" Balrog shot back.

When Cloud Man was about to cross in front of the south wall opening to head for another beam, Balrog drew a Tank Cannon Battle Chip, shot it and the round hit Cloud Man, pushing him into the air and down into the ground: Balrog quickly dropped into the ground and Cloud Man only had time to roll away and run into the bridge: Balrog gave chase and rose his arms to create two walls of flames blocking each end of the bridge: Cloud Man grumbled.

"Che! My plan went ashtray! Along with the day's _pan_!"

"The day's bread?" Balrog didn't seem to get the joke.

"It's a pun. Plan and pan."

"How lame."

"Totally."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Too bad, though."

"What's that?" Balrog got annoyed again.

"That Amelda tossed you somewhere else."

"Amelda tossed me? Who is Amelda?"

"Sheesh. He means _Duel Monsters_… A guy named Amelda in the 4th season had a Duel Monster which could be your twin bro, even. I think that Priest – sama got inspired by that to design you. I think he's a bit too much of a _Yu-Gi-Oh_ _otaku_…" "Past" sighed.

"Hmpf! Whatever! I'm not the only Balrog in Middle-Earth! In ancient times, there was a multitude of us led by Morgoroth – sama~! After His Grace was brought down by his fellow Gods, most of us fled to forgotten depths. And that's why those lil fellas found me when digging for Mithril in Khazad – dûm!" Balrog grumbled.

"Heh, heh, heh. Hit a vibe~? Relic of the Past?"

"MUGRO~H!"

"Cool it down, man!"

"Shaddup! This is MY battle!"

"Companion splitting, eh?" Cloud Man taunted next.

"I'll send ya to that pit! Te one you came outta from!"

"I wonder 'bout that, Mr. Flying Mole."

"I'm no garden mole~!"

"Wait, it's a trap!"

"Screw traps and whatever! MUGRO~H!"

"Too late! Dark Twin!"

"Armor, uninstall! Emergency Plug Out!"

"Wha? Whoa!"

Balrog's armor suddenly detached from his body revealing him to have reddish skin, greenish eyes without irises, two curved white horns, fang-like teeth, flame hair and his two black wings: he was retrieved as the "Dark Twin" flew towards the armor and made contact: the explosion blew up the whole bridge but Cloud Man had already warped to the top of a close by building: he watched as the fragments of the bridge which hadn't been vaporized fell into the pit below.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Did ya see it, Freeze Man – sama~? They had to pull out in the end! They couldn't overcome me! It's a victory for Neo Gospel, right?" He laughed.

"Today I'll agree with you." Freeze Man sounded in a good mood.

"Next is… Swallow Shallow Man!"

"I heard THAT!" Swallow Man protested.

"You two! Behave! Or else…!" Freeze Man threatened.

"R-roger!"

"Don't think that this is it! Next time I won't lose~!" Balrog roared over a nearby speaker.

"Stop hijacking speakers, man! I'm installing the backup armor! And you're not going out: do you want to get deleted or what?" "Past" complained in the background.

"Speaker Hijack Man Is Annoyed! And Relic Of The Past Is Exasperated As Well! The Curse of the Worker!"

"CLOUD MAN!"

"YIKES!"

09:16 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Found ya!"

"Huh? And who are ya?"

"Swallow Man! Your doom!"

"Neo Gospel, huh. A pal of that Gate Man guy, huh?"

"Sure thing! Fight me!"

"Fine. I'll turn into you junk."

"To be sent to the junkman's via DHL?"

"Huh? Is that a joke? I'm not fond of 'em right now."

"Correction! This guy is _Shallow_ Swallow Man!"

"Not you again. Don't hijack my radio!"

Destruction Man had been working on a Cyber Bike inside of a garage somewhere when Swallow Man came in: Destruction Man calmly stood up and didn't look surprised or amused: Cloud Man hijacked Swallow Man's radio and came up with another lame joke.

"Let's fight!"

"Not here… There's a large deserted industrial area close by: I don't want to destroy anything around me."

"Fine!"

Swallow Man ran off and Destruction Man gave chase: they reached a deserted avenue and both got into a fighting pose: Destruction Man readied his hands' miniature missile launchers: Swallow Man chuckled and began to hover over the ground.

"Swallow Cutter!"

"Missile Launchers!"

"Let's go~!"

The missiles met the Swallow Cutter and five of them exploded in contact while the other five dodged it and hit the neck area of Swallow Man: he recoiled from the blasts and Destruction Man made his fists glow before shooting forward towards Destruction Man.

"Destroy Fists!"

"Oho."

"What!"

"Gotcha."

Swallow Man suddenly placed a Giga Count Bomb in front of him and warped away: Destruction Man wasn't able to stop himself in time and hit it head-on: it detonated and the explosion pushed him backwards: he managed to flip to the right to avoid Swallow Man's sword from plunging into him from behind.

"Heck. You lured me into attacking, huh?"

"Heh, heh, heh. What do ya think?" Swallow Man taunted.

"Cheap."

"WHAT?" He got annoyed on the spot.

"Ya don't have any real strength?"

"Damn you~…"

"Bit me, ugly."

"Why, you…!"

Swallow Man rushed forward while brandishing the sword but Destruction Man grinned and opened two chest compartments on the left and right sides to reveal built-in machineguns which began to bombard the enemy with rounds: the great amount of them and their strength stunned Swallow Man and Destruction Man rushed towards him while loading energy on both fists.

"Crash Fists!"

"Wruack!"

Both fists hit the chest armor and formed some cracks on it: Swallow Man got pushed further back and he was struggling to recover: Destruction Man added a kick to the jaw with the right foot plus another kick to the neck area with the left foot: Swallow Man lost his balance and ended up on the floor so Destruction Man drew two thick laser projectors over his hands: he shot two high-power lasers which cut through some of the hips' armor: Swallow Man warped and appeared behind him while growling but he was unable to move.

"Shit! Laser Man taught you that?"

"Maybe yea maybe nay!" He taunted back.

"This jerk!"

"Is cool!"

"Sheesh! Auto-repair program! Mega Cannon!"

"Cannon for cannon!"

The middle chest compartment opened and Destruction Man drew a larger cannon: both rounds met mid-way, and an explosion ensued: Destruction Man turned on the 5 red dots on his helmet's forehead and shot another round which was surrounded by red streaks of electricity: it hit Swallow Man because he was blinded by the smoke: the blast inflicted further damage to Swallow Man.

"Shit! And here I thought this guy was a show-off!"

"Heh! I drove Blues to a tight spot twice! And Search Man too! Ya would do better not to take me lightly! Or else Drebin's monkey will come and steal your goods before running off through the window!" Destruction Man got amused.

"How original."

"Ain't it?"

"Yo! Destruction Man! What's up, man?"

"Ah! Future. Well. Swallow Man here is learning that he underestimated me: he got me once but no more."

"Well said!"

"Grah! Eat this for a change! Program Advance! Cannon, Hi Cannon, Mega Cannon! Zeta Cannon! Fire~!"

Swallow Man formed the Program Advance and shot several groups of five rounds: Destruction Man got hit by them and Swallow Man laughed yet he gasped when he spotted that the sensors on Destruction Man's forehead glowed and he'd produced a copy of the Program Advance which was already firing: the rounds were surrounded by reddish electricity and hit several spots of his chest armor plus the shoulders' armor: Swallow Man drew the sword and showed how it was starting to glow with an eerie purple glow.

"Muramasa Blade~!"

"I object! Boomerang!"

Destruction Man formed the Boomerang and shot it at Swallow Man's forehead to stun him: he suddenly rushed in and stole the sword to hit Swallow Man with it: Swallow Man growled but then Destruction Man plunged the sword through his chest until it got stuck half-way through when it hit something.

"Do you really believe we built these weapons to harm us?" Swallow Man growled.

"Ya sound like Grievous."

"What! Damn it. I'm fed up with this farce!"

"Just because Cloud Man could beat Balrog… That doesn't mean I'm an easy prey to beat, _Danna_." Destruction Man warned.

"Well said!" "Future" chuckled.

"You bike-man! Face me!"

"Bike-man? Well. I'm a bike _otaku_, yeah." "Future" shrugged.

"The finishing blow! Destroy Fists!"

Destruction Man charged up energy on his fists and began to beat Swallow Man with them like he was boxing: Swallow Man seemed to get stunned by each of them until he collapsed face-up on the floor: he growled and managed to get up to his feet.

"Dark Generator, On! Dark Twin!"

"Comin'? Come~!"

Swallow Man tried to turn on the "Dark Generator" but a buzzer rang out as energy flowed out in excess through the wound caused by the sword (which was still embed into the chest): Swallow Man cursed under his breath.

"Damn it all! I'll remember this humiliation!"

The Remote Gate opened behind him and he fled so Destruction Man began to scan since his shades glowed with streams of data scrolling up along them.

"Alright. The guy's signature is gone and I think he's left for real. Knowing what's happened by now… I guess Freeze Man is going for the Big Boss: maybe he'll take a bit longer since Big Boss is overseas so…" He deduced aloud while rubbing his chin with the right hand.

"Knowing Big Boss… Freeze Man will soon regret messing up with the fella… Heh, heh, heh." "Future" chuckled.

"I'm going back to finish tuning the new bike for the race. This time we'll show those punks that mere power isn't enough to win a race: there's more to a bike than they can imagine! Yessir!" Destruction Man got cocky and began to swing his fists in anticipation.

"Sure thing, man. Let's bike 'em all."

"Bike 'em all!"

Both laughed at their motto as Destruction Man rushed back at the garage.

_Heh, heh, heh. Ya messed with the wrong fellas! Have at ya, punks!_


	13. Chapter 13: Of escapes and surrenders

**Chapter 13: Of escapes and surrenders**

00:23 AM (Edinburg Time), Saturday September the 5th…

"… I have news, Reclaimer."

"What news, Monitor?"

"General Campestre has staged a revolution in Mexico and they have become the United States of Mexico."

"WHERE did you get that from, Monitor?"

"Well. The news feed was named "Explosive News" so…"

"Darkloid Cloud Man again… Huff."

"Fua~h… What's up, guys?"

"Anderson – sama? The Monitor got scammed by Cloud Man."

"Lovely."

"Heh, heh, heh. Found you! Annihilator Man!"

"Freeze Man!"

"What!"

Annihilator Man had been working with some graphs and simulations when Guilty Spark brought some news which he regarded with absolute skepticism: he sighed and rolled his eyes while Rick yawned over the radio band: he grumbled and then Freeze Man showed up.

"Your precious Monitor leaves a trail miles long behind!"

"Vexation! I always pick a different path and make sure to erase my traces!" Guilty Spark protested.

"A tracer." Annihilator Man grumbled.

"Ah? What! Vexation!"

"Bring out the Sentinels if you must: but this is between me and this man, Monitor. Just make sure no more accomplices come in."

"Roger!"

Guilty Spark warped away while Freeze Man chuckled: Annihilator Man merely turned on the deposits on his back and loaded his two guns: he firstly shot a concentrated beam of white energy from the left one towards Freeze Man and it shattered an ice sculpture: Annihilator Man wasn't surprised and merely aimed his other gun backwards to shoot a mass of purplish energy which attached to the real Freeze Man (who was rushing for his back) and seemed to actually freeze him on the spot yet Annihilator Man aimed the white gun (the right one) to his right to shoot an invisible opponent: the beam pierced through another sculpture and Annihilator Man merely turned on his Float Shoes to float away from where he was at in time to dodge Freeze Man's incoming attack from above: he warped before he could hit the floor and the floor suddenly turned into an Ice Stage: Annihilator Man shot at the ground with his right forearm weapon and began to melt it: he smirked and suddenly generated a shower of meteors which shattered the ice: Freeze Man finally showed up from the SE while rushing for Annihilator Man: he merely aimed his left gun and shot the mass of energy to freeze him and then shoot the white gun's attack at the fake, given how it shattered.

"Is that the best you can do, Freeze Man? Playing cat and mouse? Show me your true strength!" Annihilator Man challenged.

"Hmpf… Fine… Enough games…"

Freeze Man emerged from beneath the ice and the ground returned to normal: he rushed for Annihilator Man and he switched the guns for swords of the same colors: they clashed and began to push forward and backwards: Annihilator Man wasn't impressed and they split apart so Freeze Man raised his sword and icicles began to rain down: Annihilator Man merely began to strike with his swords: Freeze Man yielded terrain yet Annihilator Man seemed to be mistrusting of that behavior so began to scan the ground beneath them.

"Hmpf… A mine-field, huh? Is that your best shot?"

"Hmpf… I'm merely setting up the mood…" Freeze Man chuckled.

"Useless."

"Who knows? Mountain Spear!"

Freeze Man formed the Mountain Spears and shot them at Annihilator Man who ignored them as they stabbed on his armor: Annihilator Man merely flew 3 meters away and swung both swords vertically and horizontally respectively to shoot a white Sonic Boom and a purple Sonic Boom: Freeze Man chuckled and swung his sword to create two counter Sonic Booms: each one cancelled the other and two explosions ensued followed by small shockwaves: however, a grayish thin beam of energy shot forward and hit the center of Freeze Man's chest armor: it caused an explosion and Freeze Man growled from the unexpected blast: it turned out that Annihilator Man had switched back to the guns and had combined both energies into a grayish sphere about 10cm wide and 5cm tall trapped inside of a larger transparent sphere.

"Damn it. You had time to create anti-matter."

"True. This is my specialty: you lot copied it from me to begin with, didn't you?" Annihilator Man shot back.

"Sheesh."

"Come. If you've got the bravery to do so, though."

"Hmpf! Obviously! Freezing Beam!"

Freeze Man shot a beam of super-cooled air which condensed into ice which flew towards Annihilator Man yet he merely let go of the sphere and, when the beam hit it, the sphere imploded and produced a shockwave which split them apart.

"Your tricks won't work against me."

"That remains to be seen!"

"Stubborn folk…" Rick muttered.

"Hmpf! "Priest"! Go revere the Oreichalcos God!"

"Sheesh. Don't compare me to Dartz!" Rick complained.

"Hra~h! Blizzard!"

Freeze Man's frame glowed with pale blue light and a blizzard began to blow around the area: Freeze Man chuckled and began to spin clockwise while leaving a trail of "bunshin" behind him: they began to jump from one position to the other as if to confuse Annihilator Man and make it hard to spot which one was the real one.

"A mere scam of Shadow Man's "Shadow Clone"… That won't help you win either. You're trying to stall for time: and I know how to deal with your loathsome "Dark Twin" anyway."

"Let's not get too confident, Annihilator Man… The guy could be trying to lure us into a trap…" Rick whispered.

"Roger, sir…" He hushed back.

Annihilator Man began to glance around and formed a Dream Aura just as all enemies shot their "Freezing Beam" at him: they all impacted the Dream Aura and their combined damage overwhelmed it yet he'd already readied a second, smaller one, while the main one had acted as a decoy to lure the attacks in.

"Hmpf… So you've got some resources…"

"I'm not the leader of Rama in vain."

"Or should we say Neo Nebula~?" He taunted.

"No." Annihilator Man drily replied.

"Hit a vibe~? Laser Man's exiled disciple~?"

"Talk about yourself. Ex – Supreme Commander."

"Hmpf. That was another age." He tried to elude the topic but it was obvious Annihilator Man had hit a vibe.

"Too bad, Victor Fries' Alaska cousin." Rick taunted.

"Grrr… Be quiet!"

"And if I don't want to, Frozen Glory Man?"

"BE QUIET!"

Freeze Man lost concentration and his clones vanished: Annihilator Man used the chance to shoot the purple matter at Freeze Man and it did latch into him: he shot a concentrated white energy beam which pierced through Freeze Man: the mass of his "Dark Generator" began to leak out at a mad speed through both holes and Freeze Man howled before he rushed into a Remote Gate and escaped: Annihilator Man sighed in relief and lowered his guns.

"He presumed a lot but in the end he relied in deceit and spawning multiple attacks… And his armor wasn't designed to be hit by a small mass of anti-matter, either…" He analyzed.

"And to tip it off, they now know where I am at. Let's hope that he doesn't try to involve the rest of the school next."

"By the way… Should we contact the Net Police or Dr. Regal – sama?"

"I'd rather prefer to contact Father. The Net Police allowed me to atone for the aspects of Rama which we overdid yet… I'd rather try to keep my location as secret as possible."

"Roger, sir."

"Indeed! I already purged the tracer. The other day when I fought with Darkloid Cloud Man… They managed to stick it into me when I lowered the guard…" Guilty Spark came in.

"I see. Oh well. We aren't perfect."

"Indeed! I shall go revise my ring's security too. And arrange for another Sentinel Dance of Wisdom and Courage."

"W-wisdom and courage… Sounds like a joke with the Triforce…" Rick muttered with some annoyance.

"Totally, sir."

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm a genius! Let us make our ring shine and sparkle!"

_Sheesh. Will someone tell Spark to quit it with the jokes? Man!_

12:22 PM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 6th…

"… And, remember… If there's trouble… Call for Mayu – chan."

"Alright, Tamako – san. Let's go!"

"Tee, heh, heh, heh. I can foresee a tragedy brought forth by my rubber duck!"

"Yaito – san… Quit it already, will ya~?"

"Tee, heh, heh."

"… Heh, heh, heh. I know it all!"

"What do ya know? Niichan? Chu?"

"Something worthless, I guess."

"Yeah, Netto – kun. He totally looks like it."

"Absolutely."

"Is he always like that, Tooru – kun?"

"Well, Eboshi… I guess that from time to time…"

"I've got the feeling this won't end up well. As if that of yesterday morning wasn't enough…"

The Akihara Middle School 4th year students had come to an _onsen_ built inside of a typical _ryoukan_ or rural hotel: there was a bamboo wall splitting the men's section from the women's section: the guys were already inside of the _onsen_ which was about a meter and fifty deep: most had gathered in the southern corner, the furthest away from the wall, while Dekao had glued his ear there to try to listen in: they could hear Shiraizumi Tamako, Metal Man's Operator, talking to the girls: Yaito began her jokes so both Meiru and Aura sighed.

"Sorry for the delay."

"We were checking up security."

"Don't worry, my dears. Let us join the conclave~…"

"Did you REALLY learn the lesson? Yaito – chan?"

"If not…"

"YIKES!"

"Sheesh."

They heard Roll's and Felicia's voices so it was safe to assume that they'd materialized and joined the girls in the bath: Yaito began to joke again and both Meiru and Aura got annoyed: Yaito gasped.

"Yo. Sorry for the hold-up."

Isaac joined them too: he had blonde hair and wore the mandatory towel around his waist: he entered the _onsen_ and leant his back against the edge to Nelaus' right.

"Too bad Enzan and Laika couldn't come… They were busy with their duties so…" Netto sighed.

"Oh well. We did get here yesterday and spent most of yesterday going on an excursion in the forest and hills. In the evening we saw the town's festival and fireworks too… And today we taste the _onsen_… It turns out that it's the same _onsen_ you came to years ago… Ya know: the one with the _souvenir_ store managed by Tamako – san…" Saito calmly commented as he stretched.

"Didn't that Bubble Man guy get in the way back then?" Nelaus asked.

"Yeah! Sure did. He interrupted the match between me and Tamako – san so she began to stalk me to continue it… She can be somewhat of a stalker…" Netto whispered back.

"And I admit that we overdid it with that of the _onsen_ club… Not letting you or Meiru – chan check it out… And forcing you to go through those tests… I was a bit of an _otaku_ back then… But it was Mariko – sensei the one who came up with that so…" Tooru rolled his eyes.

"We were too strict, chu." Chisao shrugged.

"Will they talk about my looks?" Dekao wondered aloud.

"Doubt it." Everyone drily muttered.

"What was that?" He grumbled.

"Cha are uglier than King Kong's Zumosol Cousin! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" Yaito suddenly laughed.

"E~H?"

"Yaito – chan…!" Meiru began to get annoyed.

"Yaito – san…!" The other girls hissed.

"YIKES!"

"Man." The guys sighed.

"I've got an idea, my fellows enchanted by fog and steam!" Yaito suddenly announced aloud so that the guys would hear it too.

"What was that? Jeez." The girls groaned in annoyance.

"Oi, oi. What's up, girls?" Tamako asked.

"Yaito – chan: and her lame humor! Ma'am!" Meiru protested.

"Now, my gal! Let's not spoil the good mood. Or do cha want a cold shower courtesy of a wooden bucket? It always works to cool down types like cha: the types who spoil the fun." Tamako announced.

"E~H! N-no, thank you, ma'am!"

"Else Mayu – chan will shower you with the hose!"

"R-roger."

"It's a warning, cha! And! You guys! If there's any pervert out there then know that ya can't run from Mayu – chan! Get it?"

"_Hai_~…" They all (save Dekao) replied in a defeated tone of voice as if to signal that they had no intention of doing that.

"OK! Ah yeah! Ookarada! I'm warning ya!"

"Ooyama!" He corrected.

"Oh yeah? Oh well. Ya look more like Ookarada to me, though. Ya have been warned!" She warned.

"Sheesh." He grumbled.

"No surprise! Chu."

"Chisao! On whose side are ya?"

"In no – one's side! Chu! I'm just here to keep tabs on ya!" He folded his arms and looked indifferent.

"Man. My lil bro becomes my guardian. Is this irony of life?" He sighed in defeat.

"By the way, Arushi – kun… What did you mean earlier?" Eboshi asked Arushi.

"Huh? Ah! Well… Ya know… My Navi got beaten: and I had to switch him off or he'd recklessly rushed off to try to stage for a _revenge match_ which surely wouldn't have ended up well." He whispered.

"Arushi – chan is lacking an _aruji_~!" Yaito sang aloud.

"Huff! I'm not missing any "Lord"! Tell that to Shadow Man, Ayanokouji – san!" He protested back.

"Cha are the troublemaker, _chibi_? I'm the security!" A girl's voice asked.

"Yikes! Who are ya, "ore – girl"?"

"Hmpf! I'm Mayu."

"T-tall!" Yaito gasped.

"Of course. If cha are low in height to begin with… I'm in the changing room right here: and I can hear if you stage trouble! We've got a policy with troublemaker students here! Get it?" Mayu warned.

"Sheesh! My daddy will bring down cha business!"

"Business? I'm just a volunteer. And Tamako – san is but the _souvenir_ shop owner. Gotcha, _chibi_ gal?" She sighed.

"HMPF!" She played the offended.

Some footsteps walked away while Yaito apparently began to splash around with the hands.

"I need some strawberry milk! I left some bottles right there: I'm going to pick one! Hmpf!"

"It'd seem though, that from what info we have, Bapgei was the one behind the idea to fight with Rama… Twilight seems to have vanished somewhere to vent off the bad mood so Bapgei came up with that idea on his place…" Isaac commented.

"The bludger…" Nelaus formed a smug smile.

"Guess that!" Isaac shrugged.

"By the way, Tooru – kun... Is it true that you were Yaito – san's boyfriend?" Eboshi asked.

"Yeah. But it was more like a random caprice and we didn't get anywhere: I just was there to bear her pranks. So I quit."

"I'm afraid that there's no guy anywhere who'd be able to bear with her pranks." Arushi sighed.

"Well. How about we go back?" Netto suggested.

"We can go explore." Saito added.

"Why not?" Tooru got animated.

"We can come back later too. It'll feel better, even." Arushi pointed out to the group.

"Then… Let's go!" Eboshi grinned.

"Chu! Let's leave niichan to day-dream and go! Chu!"

"Yeah. Guess that we'll be dragged into trouble if we stay here: let's go, Isaac." Nelaus sighed.

"We better play safe." Isaac nodded in agreement.

The guys silently came out and made their way into the changing room: Isaac stopped in front of a full-body mirror and took off the towel to look at his body.

"Hmmm…"

"Chut!" Nelaus warned in a hushed tone.

"Ah! Yeah. I was thinking that I should buy sun-cream. The Sun is still strong even in October." He snapped out of it.

The guys began to dress back and they suddenly heard a loud CREAK sound followed by cracking sound and a splash.

"KYA~H!"

"Winfield strikes back…" Eboshi muttered.

"You saw those games?" Tooru asked.

"Yeah. Winfield is the pervert who tries to drag others into peeking into the girls when they bathe but they all end up fleeing before they can detect him: the sentry, Borgnine, then comes to beat the guy up." He summed up with a sigh.

"It's useless to escape! Surrender!" Mayu exclaimed.

"NO~! STO~P! SAVE ME~!" Dekao yelped.

"And that's what happens."

SHA~F!

"Bururuburururu~h!" Dekao uttered.

"Here: cold water hose! By Mayu – sama~! Cha get away and leave the rest up to me."

"Delighted!" The girls muttered with obvious annoyance.

"I knew the wall wouldn't bear the weight of niichan! Chu! That's why I wanted ya to get away ASAP! Chu!"

"You did well. Let's get going." Netto rolled his eyes.

They finished changing back into their _yukata_ and came out into the hall where the girls were at: they'd dressed back in the _kimono_ (Roll had blonde hair and Felicia had silver hair) and they were discussing in a heated up manner.

"I'd cover 'em in oil!" Yaito exclaimed.

"No, no! I'd slap their back with the right hand 50 times!" Meiru exclaimed next.

"Oh no! What we need is to throw him into the cold _onsen_." Aura suggested.

"Hit him with a hammer?" Felicia suggested.

"Why not…" Roll seemed to agree with it.

"Eh… We're going to explore the town…" Saito timidly called out to the girls.

"Go ahead. We'll catch up later. Ookarada needs a lesson. Provided by my Anti – Competency Mower, Ookarada Version." Yaito grinned.

"I don't think that'll work. It worked with ex – _senpai_ but…" Aura argued back.

"Don't worry~… I won't tell anyone about cha deal…"

"What "deal"?" Aura looked suspicious.

The guys rushed away before they could be dragged into the deal leaving Aura to glare at Yaito.

"That you went to see a certain gal…"

"And who was it?"

"Someone who produces large-sized water-melons…" She trailed off in purpose.

"That's a taboo!" Aura protested.

"Nowadays?" She giggled.

"Yaito – chan…! Maybe you need a cold bath too?" Meiru suggested.

"E~H? KYA~H!"

Yaito ran off at top speed and the other four girls sighed in defeat while slapping their foreheads.

"Yaito – chan…! We went through all of that effort to try to have her learn there's a limit to her pranks and this is the end result? We've wasted a week of our lives!" Meiru fumed.

"Totally." Roll sighed.

"Sheesh. What do we do?" Aura asked.

"Ignore her for today: let's go walk with the boys. We don't want our boyfriends to be lured out by some random gal, right?" Felicia teased with a grin.

"Sheesh. Don't joke with that."

"I'll rook with that."

"Alright. We'll discuss this later."

"OK."

"Let's go, Roll. There's some stuff I wanna buy too. And please don't come up with some jokes."

"I'm not the type to, anyway, Meiru – chan. Let's not allow these happenings to spoil our weekend. Deal?" Roll defended herself before trying to cool down the mood.

"Deal. Let's go."

"Alright! Next! The cold _onsen_! Here cha go! Good bathing!" Mayu exclaimed close by.

SHA~FFF!

"UYEA~H! CO~LD!" Dekao yelped.

"Earn cha lesson." The girls muttered.

13:13 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… Hi there."

"Whoa! Master! Where'd ya go off to? We've been trying to find you ever since Thursday! And today's a Sunday!"

"I went off to investigate the Himalayas: I thought there might something there but there wasn't."

"We were starting to get worried, see!"

"My bad. I was thinking of myself and reflecting on my career: I dropped by IQ – sama's cell to speak with her for advice. She wants this status quo to continue."

"Alright. That's fine for me, anyway. The guys will soon be back: they went out to sweep."

"Fine. So? What's happened?"

"Well…"

Twilight (wearing his normal clothes) returned to the house, surprising Philip (who was sitting in the sofa and watching some TV show or another): he sat down at Philip's left while sighing and stretching.

"We challenged Rama: Cloud Man could force Balrog to pull out in shame but the others were harder to chew and we got busted. They've recovered by now, though." He explained.

"Fine. If we could score one victory then that's enough. And what's with the club?"

"The club? In some village, enjoying hot springs… Apparently, according to Cloud Man, the fat guy behaved like "Winfield"…"

"Oho." He got amused.

"And the lil heiress doesn't seem to learn the lesson either. The other girls are getting annoyed at her again."

"As expected!"

"And that seems to be the gist of what's happened. The "good guys" have been spotted some kilometers NNE from here, apparently investigating a trail." Philip added.

"Heh! My red herrings are working: as expected. _Kyoudai_ got reeled into my fishing net! Like Holmes said: "I've cast my net and I have my fish", in the _Mazarin Stone_ case… "My friend Watson was with me just now. I told him that I had a shark and a gudgeon in my net; now I am drawing the net and up they come together."…" Twilight laughed.

"Ah. I see. So Vadous is the shark and Omega the gudgeon?" Philip guessed without being surprised.

"Bravo, Wiggins!"

"… I'm not a street urchin, Master." He grumbled.

"Ops! My bad. Lestrade!"

"Save me the nicknames. I'm Darth Bapgei, your apprentice. That's the only "nickname" I have. Sorry, but my mood is busted. I'm off to upstairs to play _Heart Gold_ and challenge the League again. Have fun reading those to Freeze Man." He stood up and grumbled.

Philip came out of the living room and closed the door behind him before climbing up the stairs into the second floor and entering a bedroom having a bed, a desk, a chair, and a book-shelf over the desk: the door of the adjacent bathroom was open.

"Oh well. I'll continue reading the newest _Legacy_ issue… Issue 40: _Tatooine Part 4_: it came out a few days ago." He muttered as he picked a comic book atop his bed.

He jumped face-up on the bed and resumed reading the comic while whistling a tune.

"… Heh, heh, heh! Freeze Man! You'll be my ice cream fetcher!"

"Twilight – sama! Please quit it with the pranks, sir!"

_Oh boy. The madness chases me everywhere… What a club! Man!_


	14. Chapter 14: Quarrels and brawls

**Chapter 14: Quarrels and brawls**

10:03 AM (Japan Time), Monday October the 7th…

"… Remind me how we got into this mess."

"Well… We were trying to find Cosmo Man's trail and so…"

"We found the man."

"And he fled."

"But left something behind!"

"And this is it."

"METTO~!"

"A Mettool – robot, X – sized version…!"

"Dodge, Miyabi!"

"Huh! That was close!"

"CF" Miyabi was fighting a gigantic Mettool inside of the remains of a warehouse building the roof of which had collapsed: Zoan Gate Man was floating over it while "CF" Miyabi dodged the pickaxe's attack: he was getting exasperated along with Shadow Man.

"Heh, heh, heh. While Cosmo Man makes his way back to the turf I've come to entertain ya! _Sengoku Man_."

"Shadow Clone! Shadow Blade!"

"Struggle and wriggle~!"

"CF" Miyabi formed a circle of "Shadow Clones" and they all attacked with several attacks in a coordinated move yet they all bounced off the armored skin so "CF" Miyabi jumped backwards to put some distance between him and the giant.

"Shit. Any ideas?"

"A Program Advance?"

"Why not? While we're at it… Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Dream Sword!"

"CF" Miyabi hit the giant with it and managed to form a cut on the right side of it to reveal that it was empty inside yet there was a mean-looking Navi inside who had a flamethrower equipped: he bathed "CF" Miyabi in flames and he growled.

"Damn. Geyser!"

The "Geyser" boiled up the flames and "CF" Miyabi used the steam as cover to rush in and slice the Navi in four by forming an attack shaped like the "X" letter: he then stepped in and looked up to see that the Mettool was indeed hollow in the inside.

"Demon Hand!"

"Gruh!"

"Caught ya off-guard, _Ninja Man_! Heh, heh, heh."

"Damn it. Sneak Attack!"

Zoan Gate Man suddenly showed up behind him and gripped him with the Demon Hand: "CF" Miyabi growled and warped to suddenly show up behind Zoan Gate Man and slash his back yet he vanished in a cloud of smoke and left the Pokémon "Hariteyama" on his stead.

"Hari~teya~ma~!" It growled.

"Lovely."

"Heh, heh, heh. Have fun with Karate Man!" Zoan Gate Man laughed from higher up.

"So? What can you do, you rip-off?" Shadow Man taunted.

"In-fight!"

"Hariteyama" rushed in and delivered an attack with both hands which sent "CF" Miyabi flying across the Mettool's body and hit the southern end with violence, bending it.

"Off!"

"Our defense values have gone down too." Shadow Man grumbled with rising annoyance.

"Join the club!" Miyabi fumed.

"I get the irony."

"Awakening Slap!"

"Hariteyama" attacked away and slapped "CF" Miyabi several times in a row: he growled and attacked back with the Shadow Blade but the enemy blocked each one of his attempts so he had to give up on it: he put some distance between them.

"Strike Throw!"

"Hariteyama" delivered another blow so "CF" Miyabi jumped into the air and tried to reach Zoan Gate Man but he merely chuckled: several Mettools fell down from above and began to assault "CF" Miyabi: he cursed and tried to shake them off.

"Earth Throw!"

"Hariteyama" rushed in again and gripped "CF" Miyabi to perform a mid-air spin and violently throw him against the ground: he rolled across it to dodge a landing kick and stood up.

"Battle Chip, Tornado!"

He formed a tornado which sent the Mettools flying outside of the giant body: he heard a sound and spotted Zoan Gate Man shooting rounds of the Gate Cannon towards him: he rushed out of the tight space into the outside only to find 64 Mettools with purple numbers written on their hardhats' forehead waiting for him.

"Metto~!"

"Damn it. Legion 64!"

"Of all things…! What a day!" Shadow Man growled.

"Heh, heh, heh. The Curse of the Worker!"

"Sheesh."

"Provide some entertainment for the public! They want some excitement before the curtain falls down on this drama! Public nowadays is very demanding, ya know?"

"You provide it, decaying clown!" Shadow Man shot back.

"Maybe."

The "Hariteyama" rushed out while the Mettools formed a perimeter around the area as if to stop "CF" Miyabi from running out of the area: "CF" Miyabi merely warped and dropped from above to plunge his Shadow Blades into the foe's head: it growled and got deleted so he sighed in relief only to barely dodge the giant pickaxe which fell on the position.

"Shit. I forgot about the giant."

"Damn it. What a coward: relying on proxies!"

"Proxy Man taught me to~… By Proxy! Mwah, hah, hah!" He improvised a silly rhyme.

"I'm fed up with the giant thing. Program Advance! Count Bomb, Triple Slot In! Giga Count Bomb! Eat this!"

"CF" Miyabi threw it inside of the giant Mettol and it exploded: the giant lost balance and crashed face-up on the ground to then be deleted so "CF" Miyabi sighed in relief only to groan in pain as one Mettool hit his back by catapulting itself there: several others began to join the tactic and "CF" Miyabi soon began to get overwhelmed.

"I've had enough of these! Meteor 9!"

Several meteors began to rain down and hit the floor, opening craters and causing shockwaves: the Mettools panicked and began to run away from the area so Zoan Gate Man grumbled and dropped in the ground while having his Gate Cannon drawn.

"Fine! I'll settle it with you myself!"

"About damned time."

"Next time PROXY will drop by~… Ya know: the droid in _Star Wars: The Force Unleashed_!" Zoan Gate Man laughed.

"Sheesh." Shadow Man grumbled.

"Gate Cannon! Gate Cannon! Gate Cannon!"

Zoan Gate Man began to shoot several rounds in a row: "CF" Miyabi was able to deflect two of them but the third hit him head-on on the waist area and pushed him back: Zoan Gate Man shot the Demon Hand but "CF" Miyabi quickly dashed forward and cut it in three on his wake: Zoan Gate Man gasped and quickly formed a Remote Gate behind yet he was blocked by "CF" Miyabi since he'd moved there in an instant: Zoan Gate Man cursed and jumped into the air backwards to land some meters away and put some distance between them.

"Shit."

"Hmpf. Did you think the same trick would work forever?" "CF" Miyabi taunted.

"Sheesh! Eat this! Pentagon Blast!"

Zoan Gate Man loaded energy on his Gate Cannon and shot five beams colored yellow, blue, red, green and brown: they all headed for "CF" Miyabi: but he calmly ducked and the blasts only blew up on the walls so it did nothing at all: Zoan Gate Man fumed and then tried to run for it but "CF" Miyabi slashed his back with the Muramasa Blade.

"Mugra~h! Remote Gate~! Damn it all!"

Zoan Gate Man dived into the Remote Gate while "CF" Miyabi sighed in relief and lowered the swords.

"I'm exhausted! I need some _curry_." He sighed.

"And I need some HP recovery. I'm fed up with this guy: I don't want to face this guy ever again!" Shadow Man grumbled.

12:24 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I have found you. Neo Gospel's Freeze Man."

"Huh? What! You lowlife!"

"Indeed."

"Xon' Edos! How could you know where I was at?"

"It struck me as odd: these "sudden freezing" incidents… They were but rehearsals, tests… You were planning of freezing up this whole Internet City from this point… Like you did 5 years ago: is that no being repetitive to begin with?"

"Sheesh! Gospel and Neo Gospel are two organizations apart: what I do now has no connection to Gospel!"

"I would rather call it… loopholes."

"Damn it."

Xon' Edos surprised Freeze Man inside of a frozen warehouse somewhere in Internet City: Freeze Man growled and sounded annoyed as Xon' Edos pointed out how he was merely repeating the same strategy.

"So what! They won't see it coming. Sometimes reusing them brings you the element of surprise. Now I'll bury you in the tundra!"

"We shall see."

Xon' Edos descended into the ground and drew one of his yellowish swords which he gripped with both hands: Freeze Man rushed in with his sword and formed a cross-shaped energy attack on the ground which Xon' Edos dodged by jumping to the right: Freeze Man formed Ice Cubes and had them slide towards him to distract him as he jumped over them and swung his sword to form a wound across his forehead: Xon' Edos wasn't impressed and he calmly opened his wings: bronze-colored energy began to expand across them and then an array of laser shots filled the air so Freeze Man got busy trying to deflect them but he only got them to bounce off the frozen walls and hit him from several unexpected spots.

"Damn it. My own field places me at a disadvantage!"

"I may not be as powerful as Slur is said to have been. Yet I have enough power to stand up to you." Xon' Edos calmly announced.

"And here I thought you were a mere watchdog!"

"If you must…" He shrugged.

"Sheesh! I don't know what's wrong with me: where did my cool rational thinking go to? It's all Cloud Man's fault: I know it!"

"In-fighting? I am surprised you have managed to survive 2 years without killing each other." Xon' Edos smirked.

"Twilight – sama's commands are absolute: no kin-strife!"

"So he has to admit that there is the danger of kin-strife. Which also means that none of you are perfect or ever were."

"Sheesh. Freezing Beam!"

"Plasma Beam."

"What!"

Xon' Edos formed a beam of incandescent plasma which turned the Freezing Beam into steam upon contact and which Freeze Man barely dodged by sliding on the ice towards the left: the blast hit the far wall and melted the ice and the wall allowing one to see a tall building just a few meters away.

"This is floor 17 of a tall building used for storage."

"I knew that!"

"Maybe someone looking through sensory data was wondering where this was at?" He suddenly smirked.

"What the hell is that? A fourth wall joke?" Freeze Man demanded.

"It could be."

"Hmpf! Now you sound like a politician."

"If you must…"

"I must bury you in ice and tundra! Ice Stage!"

The floor, walls and ceiling were covered in ice again and Freeze Man's frame began to glow with a cyan glow: Xon' Edos merely lifted his right ear as if being slightly curious.

"Cutting Ice!"

A shower of hail ensued: its edges were sharp enough to cut Xon' Edos skin as they scratched it on their way through: Xon' Edos simply flew for Freeze Man and both began to clash swords: they began to step back and forward as if trying to find a hole in each one's tactics but they got nowhere so they put some distance between them: Xon' Edos suddenly swung his sword in a circle and the hail's direction changed to begin scratching Freeze Man this time around: Freeze Man growled and formed a swarm of icicles which he shot at Xon' Edos but he ignored them because they turned into steam upon contact with his body: Freeze Man seemed to be puzzled as to why but he soon spotted that Xon' Edos frame glowed with an orange red glow.

"Damn it. A Flame Aura."

"Indeed. You have an Ice Aura. And that means that you cannot be harmed by your own attacks or I can't be harmed by my attacks: there is no danger of the attacking firing back."

"Bah! Ice equals to water in Net Battles so I can simply put out your pitiful aura and attack you!" Freeze Man scoffed.

"If you must…"

"Not again…! It makes me feel disgusted! It makes my inner anger stir and roar! I'll cut off your tongue!" Freeze Man growled.

"We shall see."

Freeze Man rushed forward and brandished the sword: both clashed again and Xon' Edos began to yield terrain so Freeze Man got confident yet Xon' Edos suddenly smirked.

"Plasma Stream!"

"Gruah!"

He formed a stream of plasma spheres from his opened left hand which hit several spots of Freeze Man's body yet they didn't get to inflict excessive damage.

"Fool! The Ice Aura cuts down your damage by 75%!"

"Is that so?" Xon' Edos calmly asked back.

"What? Ah! They also carry electricity! Wait, then…!"

"Yes. It means that your Ice Aura got deactivated with the first attack which made contact." Xon' Edos signaled to him.

"Damn it. I lowered the guard."

"So it would seem."

"Shut up! This isn't over yet!"

"Then again… Who said it was?" Xon' Edos brought up.

"Sheesh. Ice Tower!"

An Ice Tower formed on the ground and shot upwards while plunging into Xon' Edos chest: he got to hit the ceiling and the Ice Tower shattered so he fell into the ground face-down with violence and cracked the ice there to fall into the floor below: Xon' Edos recovered with grace and began to fly while shooting plasma rounds around the room to open up holes and apparently do something.

"The final blow! Hra~h!"

Freeze Man dropped from above while aiming his sword downwards but Xon' Edos dodged in time and floated towards one of the holes he had opened: Freeze Man's sword got stuck on the floor and he was trying to pull it out: he did so and rushed for Xon' Edos yet, when he tried to cross the hole, he got repelled by something.

"Oufff!"

He hit the floor and his armor was suddenly assaulted by electrical currents popping out of nowhere: Freeze Man howled and opened a Remote Gate to jump inside of it and run away.

"It was a good idea to set an energy field there, truly."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Yo! Buddy. What's up?"

"Hmmm? Ah. You are Sigma, is that right?"

Sigma had come in through one of the holes Xon' Edos had opened and looked around in an amused manner.

"Yeah! Sigma The Banner!"

"Do excuse me?" Xon' Edos frowned.

"Ahem, ahem! "Of struggle and wriggle is the nation of Zong – Pong, the founder of the Ping – Pong Dynasty."… Dragon's newest banner: it sounds totally original, doesn't it? Mwah, hah, hah."

"I fail to see the point, if there is any to begin with. I shall be excusing myself. Let us meet again."

Xon' Edos flew off while Sigma chuckled: someone grumbled behind him and he turned around to spot Omega there: he did look pretty if not very pissed off: Sigma gulped.

"I knew it. Only you could come up with something so LAME. Why aren't you in the school, keeping watch? Huh?"

"W-well, I heard that there was a brawl and…"

"Investigating that was my mission: your mission is to go back to the school RIGHT NOW!" He growled.

"R-roger, sir!"

Sigma warped out of the room while Omega fumed and punched a wall with the right fist as if to vent off his bad mood.

"Hmpf! Are they so afraid of me and the other two that they haven't come for us this season? Bah. Whatever. Let's get back to work!"

17:47 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I get home, I get an email telling me to come here, and I find this circus clown wannabe."

"Lovely afternoon, Meiru – chan."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. Meiru Sakurai… The Court of Owls sentences you to… battle!"

"Darth Bapgei, Nelaus – kun's rival… Those knives are no joke and I can feel them despite the Cross Fusion bodysuit."

"Yeah. They ache but I'm not going to complain."

"Master said that other characters deserved more screen-time this season… And that's why you've been chosen!"

"Charmed. I'm sure that guy's smug mistress is behind the idea to begin with: she still resents that I wouldn't become an accomplice to her lust and sadism. Which I don't plan on doing. Ever."

"CF" Roll was having a fight with Bapgei inside of a warehouse filled with crates stacked in several spots of it and other construction materiel: Bapgei shot his knives and they lodged in "CF" Roll's skin yet Meiru and Roll didn't pay much heed to them.

"Heh, heh, heh." Bapgei chuckled.

"What now?"

"Never say never again." He announced.

"Jeez. What a stubborn guy!" Roll complained.

"More like annoying."

"Thanks for the compliments." He joked.

"What compliments…? You're exasperating."

"Hey, hey… At least I'm not as impossible as Cloud Man." He argued back.

"Guess that."

"Maybe we should be glad of it, even."

"Heh, heh, heh. Big Body messed it up, eh?"

"Big Body? Oh. Dekao? Of course. We saw it coming miles away: the guy's TOO predictable."

"As predictable as Thoma?"

"Dunno. Ask your helmet."

"What? Ask my helmet?" He didn't seem to expect that one.

"It's the curse of the gong. Sponsored by Sigma."

"C-curse of the helmet?" He sounded afraid of it, even.

"Oh? Where did your guts go to? Did Guts Man steal them? Or you never had them to begin with?"

"Huh! That's… Eh… It doesn't matter!"

"So at least you've learnt not to insult others, huh?"

"I've got no need for those."

"Maybe you need hair fixer?" She suggested.

"Wait… You're stalling for time? What for? Expecting Hikari to come to your aid or what?" He sounded mistrusting.

"Netto? Oh no! I can fend off pretty well on my own: Zoan Gate Man is witness to it, ya know?"

"I forgot." He grumbled.

"Hit a vibe? Did you want to try to taunt Netto's hot-blooded side? I don't think he'll fall for the same trick twice in a row. Ya know: fool me once, you're to shame. Fool me twice, I'm to shame." "CF" Roll got amused and smirked.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. DONG – CLONG! Curse of the gong and the helmet: ripped off by Cloud Man!" Cloud Man laughed over Bapgei's radio all of a sudden.

"I knew it." He growled.

"Alright! Let's go! Wide Blade, Long Blade!"

"CF" Roll rushed forward and Bapgei drew his two short swords to block her: they clashed and began to struggle for dominance but they didn't get anywhere so they split: Bapgei jumped into the wall to crawl it up and then begin to crawl across the ceiling while throwing his knives around the area: "CF" Roll activated the Jet Vernier and flew into the air to then bring out her bow-gun.

"Roll Arrow!"

The Roll Arrow had been modified to have a normal end instead of that heart-shaped accessory and it got stuck on Bapgei's right hip: he didn't mind that and dropped atop a pile of crates: he took out some small spheres and threw them at the ground where they shattered: "CF" Roll covered her nose.

"Whoa! Stinking gas: the prank!" She complained.

"I should be glad I can't smell, I guess." Roll guessed with a hint of irony to her voice.

"You really should! Let's get away!"

"CF" Roll moved some meters away without losing track of Bapgei as he began to walk atop an horizontal steel beam: he suddenly spun clockwise and threw 10 knives at "CF" Roll, some of which lodged in her flesh: she winced and hissed but didn't let it stop her as she drew a Vulcan Battle Chip and began to shoot over there.

"Vulcan!"

"Raven!" Cloud Man added.

"Stop hijacking MY radio!" Bapgei growled.

"Too bad, Bapgei~… Count Dooku says ya gotta do better than this: ya are too predictable~!"

"Stop bringing up _Star Wars_ stuff already, you moron! Get outta here!"

"Sure! With the backdoor Gate Man forgot in the Bahamas! Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

Bapgei grumbled under his breath but he suddenly found that, during his distraction, "CF" Roll had appeared behind him and was aiming a Mega Cannon Battle Chip at his back.

"So… You wanna play." He sounded amused.

"Hey. What did I say? I'm no _dominatrix_ sadist." She shot back.

"Ya wanna play so badly, find yourself one." Roll challenged.

"No need to. I've got already. A pro… And she likes dominating though girls like ya as well…" He tried to sound scary.

"How scary. Truly. I'm SO frightened." She shot back.

"Heh, heh, heh… Chance!"

Bapgei jumped down into the pile of crates below and into the ground so "CF" Roll gave chase from the air yet Bapgei suddenly activated the cargo transportation cranes: their hooks began to travel along their rails and made mid-air maneuvering hard: "CF" Roll landed on the ground and continued the chase on foot until they reached the centermost point of the warehouse: Bapgei had used the chance to pick back his wasted knives and place them back on his forearms' sheaths.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm like Vamp: always reusing my knives. Be glad I don't like tasting blood." He chuckled.

"No surprise. So? Did you get demoted already?"

"D-demoted? Why should I?"

"Dunno. Maybe your smug Boss thought "Lil Darth" would be a better title for you? Or maybe his smug Mistress had the random caprice?"

"T-that can't be." He gasped.

"You never know. Seeing how random and smug that Mistress is to begin with, then…" Roll added in a dull manner.

"Devil. Don't tell me." He grumbled.

"Chance!"

"CF" Roll warped right in front of him and delivered a knee blow to his balls: he howled, clutched them, and collapsed on his knees: there was the classical white shaft of light and he was warped out of the building while the "Dimensional Area" died down: Meiru released the "Cross Fusion" and picked back her Link PET with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Sorry for the delay. The firewalls were tougher than I thought they would be… Is everything alright, Sakurai – san?" Blood Shadow materialized in the room and looked around.

"Bapgei. I gave him a lil lesson." She summed up.

"Hum. I see."

"He had an obvious weakness. Ironically… Despite his masochist behavior and such he couldn't avoid it…"

"Huh? Sorry. I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Kick to the balls, like in Hollywood!" Sigma chuckled over Blood Shadow's radio.

"Ah. I see." He wasn't surprised.

"Well. I'm going back home. See ya around, Blood."

"Good afternoon."

"See you around."

Meiru walked off while Blood Shadow scanned the area with his shades' built-in scanning system but he didn't seem to spot anything out of place to begin with so he shrugged.

"I'll go report to Commander Omega."

Blood Shadow began to walk out while humming a tune.

_Well. Bapgei lowered the guard today but we won't be so lucky next time._

18:18 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Mag Missile~!"

"Sheesh. I'm being fed up with the guy."

"Yeah. Just shooting and running away… Gauss Magnets did improve this guy's speed."

"Nyah, hah, hah, hah! Too bad, lil pests! Father didn't do it: I did it! Tesla Magnets, a _lady_ who isn't even 30 yet!"

"I'm SKEPTICAL."

"Join the club, Nelaus."

"Let's give them a lesson. Turn on the S – Program and use the ground combat form. Then switch to air combat form. That should be more than enough to deal with them."

"Roger."

"Whatever cha do is USELESS! NYAH, HAH, HAH!"

"Tesla – sama is TOO cherry today… Huff…"

"Huh? Did cha say something?"

"HUH! N-nothing, my lady!"

"Crush 'em!"

"Mag Ball!"

Isaac was fighting against Magnet Man while jumping across rooftops of some low-height buildings in Internet City: he was getting fed up with the guy's mania of shooting and flying across the air to avoid any counter-attacks: Nelaus began to grumble aloud but then Tesla Magnets opened her Operator's screen to brag: Magnet Man sighed as if he could foresee trouble and then tried to pose as if nothing had happened when Tesla got suspicious: Nelaus and Isaac felt skeptical at her claims.

"S – Program, execute! Hra~h! Greiga Form!"

"What!" Magnet Man gasped.

Isaac roared as a column of blue energy formed and he gained new armor over his body which was reminiscent of a beast.

His helmet had the shape of a beast's mouth plus six triangles spreading in a formation colored golden: a symbol which looked like some kind of orange star was set on the segment of it corresponding to the helmet's forehead.

A black mouth-guard covered the nose and mouth.

The chest armor was colored in a greenish color with thin goldenrod borders and three white shapes in the form of claws placed over the shoulders: a hole in the middle of the armor allowed for the chest emblem to be displayed: there were two pieces of reddish armor built directly underneath the main one.

The forearm armor started slightly below the elbows and contained a red segment before the main piece which had two claws protruding from it and over the hands.

The feet armor started below the knee and included two goldenrod diamond-like shapes over the knees: the feet had red armor just before the fingers started, which had been turned into a set of three claws which looked sharp.

Lastly, he also had a green tail with two golden shapes built near the end of it protruding from his back.

"Greiga Claw! Greiga Breath!"

Isaac shot forward and sliced the air with his claws, forming four claw traces in Magnet Man's body: he then moved behind him and formed a doll of flames which bathed Magnet Man and he had to shield himself with the right arm.

"Che! N – S Tackle~!"

Magnet Man formed a blue "bunshin" and they tackled in unison but Isaac had already moved towards the front of a nearby building.

"Catch me!"

"Che! Magnet Barrier! Mag Missile~!"

Magnet Man formed a spherical purplish barrier around his body and opened a hole to shoot a Mag Missile but it missed and hit the building while Isaac had already jumped into the air.

"Falzer Form!"

"What! Another form?"

Red energy surrounded Isaac as he changed his form: this alternate form had a helmet with a golden edge and a red shape aiming backwards and upwards protruding from it: a greenish jewel in the form of a bird was set on the forehead as well.

The face was partly hidden by the mouth-guard yet the eyes displayed that Isaac was conscious of what he was doing.

The upper part of the chest armor had a brownish/grayish color plus a red stripe just underneath the blackened chest emblem: it looked like a bird's torso, even.

The forearms had red armor with a grayish/brownish edge around the wrists plus a small triangle-like piece near the start of it: the hands had become finger-claws colored white.

The boots had a greenish/azure diamond set over the knees and a general conical shape with three large metallic claws instead of the usual feet fingers.

Two sets of wings of four each one colored red with an azure edge emerged from the back of the body and seemingly allowed for Isaac to fly upwards.

And he did so, easily dodging Magnet Man's attacks and quickly diving for him while surrounded by a red aura of energy: Magnet Man gasped and created his "bunshin" to take in the attack while he drew his Magnet Ruler along the way: he tried to hit Isaac with it but he'd already taken off as soon as he'd flung the blue "bunshin" to the left.

"Ouwa~h!"

The blue "bunshin" hit a wall and exploded while Isaac flew and descended behind Magnet Man: he gripped him from behind, flew into the air, spun three times, and then flung him into the ground with force: he hit the ground and formed a crater from the impact: Isaac dived towards him and drew a gun similar to the Wide Wave Battle Chip and shooting out several feathers at a mad speed which embedded into Magnet Man's body and began to explode one after the other: Magnet Man growled and then Isaac gripped his chest emblem with the left hand to exert pressure there.

"Mugro~h!"

"D-damn it! Withdrawal!" Tesla cursed.

Magnet Man was retrieved so Isaac landed on the ground and switched off his form while stretching: he heard a giggle and spotted Trill standing right behind his right leg while grinning.

"Trill? Why are ya here?" He asked.

"Trill went to walk with oneechan!"

"Trill! Are you there? Jeez. Don't go off on your own!"

Iris caught up with them and scolded Trill, who gulped: Isaac formed a smile and shrugged.

"She's right, Trill. You mustn't worry her by running off on your own."

"Sorry!"

"Next time please tell me!"

"_Hai_~…"

"Oh well. We saved Count Elec the trouble of having to beat this guy again so…" Nelaus commented.

"Yeah. He's gotta be busy trying to imitate Elvis Presley, anyway. Good luck in the attempt." Isaac joked.

"Yay! Mister Dragon will set fire to the bad guys!"

"Sigma's too bad of an influence. Really." Isaac sighed.

"I totally agree." Iris muttered with some annoyance.

"Yay! Uncle Sigma scares the bad guys away! And Sartor sent the bad guys back to their world! Yay!"

"Isn't that the main campaign of _Tzar: the Burden of the Crown_? I thought you destroyed the "Evil" forces in the end?" Isaac asked in a whisper while frowning.

"I think he formed his own vision of it: maybe he's mixing in elements from something else." Iris whispered back.

"Ah. Alright. Just asking… Well, Nelaus… Let's get back to work: there's homework pending to be done, am I right?"

"Sure thing… See you two around. And, Trill… Don't be so quick to believe everything Sigma tells you. A lil piece of advice… Bye."

"Yay! Bye!"

"See you around."

Isaac left the Internet City while Iris and Trill resumed walking: they didn't spot Cloud Man looking from atop a tower and shrugging his shoulders while sighing.

"Pity! I wanted Isaac to learn the might of thunder but… Oh well! There'll be other chances in the future, anyway. By the way! Bapgei~… I'm the ghost of the donuts ya ate this morning!"

"That's LAME! Cloud Man! Leave me alone: I want to get rid of this pain!"

"Provided by THE PAIN! Cobra Unit!" He laughed at his joke.

"Even a 5-year old could do that." Swallow Man drily muttered.

"WHAT? Swallow Man, ya~!"

_Well! Nelaus… Next season… I'm coming for you again! Philip has spoken!_


	15. Chapter 15: Wrapping it up

**Chapter 15: Wrapping it up**

08:58 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday October the 9th…

"… Yo! Cyber Snatcher. Glad ya made it on time."

"Charles…! Save me the nicknames."

"Now, now… Let's behave! You too, Lander."

"Don't worry, Capt'n!"

"Guys… Let's not start fighting at 9AM!"

"Why does this happen to us, anyway?"

Martin came into the meeting room of the building he'd come at the other day and got greeted by Charles with a joke: he sighed, Davis warned Lander, Lander joked, Nokay tried to avoid a fight and Alamantz sounded defeatist.

"The Justice Council's newest recruit!"

"OI! Wait a min, Charles! I never said I'd join the Justice Council: I'm already a King Land Net Savior!" Martin protested back.

"So? What's with those guys?" Davis asked Lander.

"They're mean guys." He laughed.

"We got a report from Cypher's Colonel Botos… He says that Bapgei keeps on dropping by Twilight's place but Twilight has set jammers inside of it so we can't record anything which goes inside." Nokay read from his iPhone 3GS screen.

"I Phone Ya!" Lander made up a lame joke.

"How original!" Alamantz fumed.

"Don't worry about our neophyte~… He's got a weak spot which Miss Sakurai contributed to discovering! Along with a smuggling route courtesy of the Kessel Run!" Charles grinned.

"Don't try to act Han Solo next."

"I'm acting Ham Multi!"

"Charles!" Nokay grumbled.

"Why don't you behave for a change?" Alamantz scolded.

"Alright, alright…! No need to get pissed off… I was just trying to improve the overall mood!"

Charles sat correctly on the chair and sighed: Davis directed a scolding glare at Lander and he seemed to think it back.

"Oh well. The status quo hasn't changed: we can be pretty sure that the guys will continue on using those sprites as bodies from now on. We'll need to study the battle data and be careful: they can come up with deadly tricks when they feel like it."

"In essence." Nokay shrugged.

"The only which I think we should be on the lookout for is… Cloud Man's jokes." Martin sighed.

"And Sigma's." Davis added.

"Well, well! Not like they're the end of the world!" Charles tried to improve their moods.

"We know that. But nevertheless…" Lander sighed.

"Cheer up! The Justice Council will overshadow the Justice League!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if we did so." Alamantz grinned.

"This joke is recurring but… Well. It helps improve the morale." Nokay seemed to agree with it.

"Dave~… Hal wants his rooks back with a rookie sandwich!"

"How original, Charlie~ Team." Davis formed a smug smile.

"Oh yeah! Let those folk come: the _Sheriff_ will deal with them!" Lander laughed.

"That's the spirit. Come, Neo Gospel! We won't lose!"

23:08 PM (Iceland Time), Tuesday September the 8th…

"… Yo."

"Whoa! Jasmine! Why do you always come in without knocking?"

"We were changing!"

"I wanted to see if I caught ya up to something… sneaky."

"For the billionth time! We're not _yaoi_! We've got nothing against it but we're not fond of it!"

"Yeah! Have we ever intruded in your privacy, anyway?"

"No! But I'm a snooper."

"Don't tell me Ms. Captain is the one who got you to obsess over that idea…"

"Oh come on."

Justin and George had been about to change into their pajamas while in a bedroom (which had two beds, an adjacent toilet, a sofa and a TV plus a PS3) when Jasmine suddenly came in: they blushed and protested since they were on their boxers and socks while Jasmine was still dressed in the usual outfit plus the utility belt.

"Who knows? _Bad boys_."

"Sheesh."

"Maybe… You need _something_?"

"If you mean a dildo… I pass!" Justin grumbled.

"I pass, too!" George added.

"Tee, heh, heh. You'd do good recruits to Lestrade – sama~…"

"Could you PLEASE go back?" Justin requested.

"Or do we need to call Ms. Lieutenant to scold you… AGAIN?"

"OK. _See you, bad, bad boys_."

She blew them a provoking kiss and giggled as she shut the door on her way out: both fumed and put on their navy blue pajamas: their iPhone devices buzzed in silent mode so they sighed and picked them up to see that they had new SMS messages.

"Lovely." Justin sighed.

"Yeah. Lovely indeed."

The message merely said "caught ya up to something _occult_" and it had 3 "X" characters at the bottom of it: the guys left the devices back on the tablet between both beds and sat on each one's bed (Justin's was the right one while George's the left one).

"What do we do? Do we complain to Ms. Commander too?" Justin asked George.

"We could, yeah, but I'm afraid it won't bring upon any change. It's like a vicious circle." George replied.

"Sadly enough. Let's hope she doesn't try to pull a joke on someone and she goes too far. Not like she has the means to, anyway, but it's better to be two steps ahead the whole time."

"Hard to believe we're 21 and she's 23. We still behave like high-school students, don't you get that feeling?"

"I get it, believe me. Ironies of life, I guess."

"_Bad, bad boys_." Jasmine sang outside of the room.

"Jasmine – chan! We need to TALK." A woman scolded.

"Yikes! M-Ms. Lieutenant!" She gasped.

"Come to my room! Now! That's an ORDER!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

"About time." Both drily muttered.

"Mary…! What a gal! Jessica, the Commander and I, Lieutenant Ann, need to fix her messes the whole time: when will she learn to behave? Sheesh!"

09:29 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday September the 9th…

"… So here you were."

"Huh! Dr. Wily – sama."

"Well…"

"_This is_…"

"How should we say it…?"

"Oh come on! Don't feel so ashamed of it. I'm sure Father doesn't think you were doing something stupid."

The Maha Ichiban's crew got found by Wily inside of the ruins of the old WWW base: they gasped and looked a bit ashamed but Yuriko tried to calm them down.

"Shah, shah, shah! So this is the famed WWW base, eh? Those computers sure look old-fashioned for being stuff of just 5 years ago." Needle Man commented.

"Guess I tried to save up on computers and got those relics from somewhere else…" Wily shrugged.

"And this where we met Forte…" Elec Man muttered.

"Oh yeah. He'd kidnapped Rock Man and brought 'im here to read his memories, yeah…" Colored Man recalled.

"I wasn't around by then." Fire Man shrugged.

"Heat Man was fighting Freeze Man around that time as well." Magic Man recalled next.

"See, you guys… The WWW won't be coming back. It's dead. Like this base… But what will continue is… Maha Ichiban's curry!" Wily rallied them with a grin.

"HORRAY~!" The four members exclaimed.

"Well. As long as they don't anger the customers…" Yuriko muttered.

"Shah, shah, shah! By the way… Didn't something happen here last year's winter, around mid-January?" Needle Man recalled.

"Huh? Ah! I remember. That Sidier fellow challenged Rock Man to come have a duel with him in this base's Cyber World, true. I think it ended in a draw…" Wily recalled.

"That period was hectic: we were hunting for "KO" and dealing with the raids of Neo Gospel… Twilight was in unknown whereabouts by then and so Freeze Man was in charge…"

"Of the ship of fools! Shah, shah, shah!" Needle Man laughed at his own lame joke.

"How brilliant." Yuriko drily muttered.

"Well! Let's get moving: they say the autumn this year will be cold so we better stay indoors, heated up… And surrounded by the aroma of curry and spices." Wily grinned.

"Roger!" The four members eagerly exclaimed.

"As long as Count Elec doesn't forget to shut the storeroom door when playing the guitar…" Elec Man sighed.

"Let's hope Freeze Man doesn't come for more either: but at least this should've cooled down Hinoken – sama for a while…"

"Tee, heh, heh. Ezeeerf Nam!" Colored Man came up with an anagram and laughed at it.

"Please…" Magic Man didn't think it was funny.

"Shah, shah, shah! Eldeen Nam I am!" Needle Man laughed.

"Will someone tell them to quit fooling around?" Yuriko sighed.

"Don't be so defeatist, Yuriko! You can scare off pretenders."

"How funny, Father. Did you scare _your_ pretenders too?" She countered.

"Oh well. Who knows? I was immersed in my stuff back then! Hairs go the sea, as they say. Heh, heh, heh… Let's move out, you rascals!"

09:47 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Stranger in a strange world!"

"Is there some point to that statement?"

"Sigma. Stop fooling around. Commander Omega will get annoyed at you again…"

"Is that so? Bloody~ Shadowy~?"

"Huff!"

"Yet again… I fail to see the point."

"Forget the guy, Xon' Edos. What's up?"

"I was just investigating: I detected Cloud Man's signature around the perimeter."

"Did you say Cloud Man?"

"Ah. Omega. Yes. He was roaming around the perimeter around 5 minutes ago."

Xon' Edos had come to the firewall of the 4-A class and was talking to Sigma and Blood Shadow: Sigma began to joke, Xon' Edos failed to see the point, and Blood Shadow grumbled: Omega came in next and Xon' Edos explained to him.

"Surely the jerk was trying to pull some prank again: check out the surrounding areas. Sigma. You go. Blood. Stay there. I'll join the investigation as well." Omega commanded.

"Roger." Blood Shadow confirmed.

"And, Sigma… Quit it with the pointless jokes: you better don't piss me off first thing in the morning."

"Huh! R-roger, sir!"

"I've warned you."

"Roger!"

Sigma ran off while Blood Shadow sighed: Omega headed elsewhere too and Xon' Edos remained, looking slightly surprised.

"Is that your everyday?"

"More or less."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Everyday Man will duck us all!" Cloud Man laughed from somewhere close by.

"I knew it. The guy came to troll lus."

"To laugh at us, you mean to say?"

"In essence."

"The Laughter! The secret MGS3 Boss!" Cloud Man laughed next.

"How original." Blood Shadow grumbled.

"Is there some point to it?"

"It means a squad of humans who have codenames like "Pain", "Fear", and "Fury"… And so on. He's making a joke out of them." Blood Shadow summed up.

"There you are! Come at full power!" Sigma challenged close by.

"Sigma! You got the Amgis Curse!"

"HMPF! Eat this! Hra~h!"

"Ouwa~h! How disgustin', by Nyarth!"

They spotted Cloud Man being sent flying across the air while agitating his arms and legs in a comical manner as if trying to maneuver mid-air: he vanished out of sight and both sighed.

"I think I will be better off in my spacecraft."

"You sure will be. Get there before someone tries to break in."

"Roger. Let us meet again."

"Really… What a morning. Dumb luck, alright."

10:03 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Welcome to Higureya. Oh. It's you, Destruction Man."

"Yessir! I brought a pal along."

"Mugro~h! We've got a plan to bring ya Operator back to Earth!"

"Hum. Let's see."

"Oi! Higure Yamitarou! I'm the Devil!"

"MASU~! The Devil, de masu! The one I made a pact with 18 years ago, de masu!"

"18 years ago? 1991? You surely weren't even 18 even. What kind of pact, anyway?" Number Man sighed.

"To find a fated one! De masu!"

"Sheesh."

Balrog and Destruction Man came to Higureya with a plan: Number Man wasn't surprised and Balrog called out to Higure who began to blabber nonsense: Number Man sighed.

"And by "fated one" you mean Mariko – sensei?"

"Of course! De masu!"

"And what happened with that fortune-teller of the winter, that Ms. Glassy?"

"She was abducted by the forces of Evil! De masu! So Fate led me to Mariko – sensei again! Masu!" He laughed.

"How lame. She was a spy and she fled: that's all there's to it!"

"And now I've come to claim my prize!"

"W-what, de masu?"

"I'll burn ya soul to cinders!"

"UWA~H! MARIKO – SENSEI~! DE MASU~!"

CRASH!

"Oh. He fell." Shuuko calmly muttered.

"Pyurururu~!" Aqua Man giggled.

"Heh, heh, heh! Perfect, _aibou_!" Destruction Man complimented his buddy.

"Thanks!"

"Oi! Guys. What did ya do?" Future asked over Destruction Man's Operator screen: his face wasn't displayed and the _Kanji mirai_ ("future") was displayed over it instead.

"Don't worry, Future~! We just set the fright on Higure Yamitarou's skinny skin!" Destruction Man laughed.

"Sheesh. When we take our eyes off ya then trouble ensures: luckily I'd set my PET to mute mode… Don't bring trouble to my school next! I'm going to cut: the next teacher is about to come in!" Future scolded in a hushed tone of voice.

"OK! Biking and Booking Fella~!"

"Sheesh."

"Same from me, Balrog! Don't stir up trouble where there isn't any to begin with!" Past whispered to him.

"Mugro~h! Don't worry! I'll just become the newest trend: Balrog He Who Scares Glassy Dudes!" He laughed.

"How original." He drily muttered.

"Totally." Future sighed.

"Learn the lesson, Yamitarou. Get back to work." Number Man scolded.

"Masu~… Mariko – sensei~… De masu~…"

"These two…!" Both Operators grumbled.

"Are cool!" Both Navis laughed.

10:58 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Axe Man."

"Ah! Annihilator Man – sama. A new mission?"

"No. I'm merely checking up on everyone."

"Roger, sir. Nothing odd has happened here: my disguises help me move around without calling for attention…"

"Good enough."

Annihilator Man had come to visit Axe Man inside of his PET: he saluted and Annihilator Man explained that he was checking up on everyone so he reported.

"What does Priest – sama say about Neo Gospel?" Present asked over the Operator screen in a hushed tone of voice.

"Not much. We've all seen what they can do. They'll come at us more than once again… We must have new tactics or be able to find a weakness to their own tactics." He replied.

_And, besides, Anderson – sama is sleeping right now. It's 3AM in Scotland by now so…_

"And dancing across my Installation I go~… I am genius! Or so I say myself… Heh, heh, heh!" Guilty Spark sang as he floated into the space to join Annihilator Man.

"What's the status of the ex-members?" Present asked.

"I've confirmed that Prophetess and Witch are still in prison and so are Ancient and Ronin Man. There's no danger of them escaping by now yet we can't lower the guard: Twilight might try to recruit them again for all we know." He explained.

"If they come for us… I shall not hold back." Axe Man announced.

"Ah! Regarding that… I've got an order."

"Command me!"

"No deletion. Remember? That's the founding pillar of Rama. Weaken them and then the authorities will take care of the rest. We want to feel the weight of their sins." He commanded.

"As you desire, sir." Axe Man bowed.

"Acknowledged." Present calmly replied.

"YEOW!" Someone yelled in the real world.

"Masada – sensei?" Present gasped.

"Who the hell placed a mouse-trap in MY drawer?" A woman complained.

"I suspect Multimedia 2nd year student Kanda Ondo." Another woman muttered close by.

"Kanda! The guy did look like he was up to something! I'm sure he only comes to my classes out of some ulterior motive: he has "co validated" status on Web Design!" Masada complained.

"I'm afraid our college doesn't escape from the madness either, sadly enough." Present grimly muttered.

"Lovely." Annihilator Man sighed in defeat.

"Maybe they need a charm?" Guilty Spark offered.

"Maybe." Axe Man drily muttered.

"The air seems to be filled with tension so I shall be heading back to my Installation. I'm a genius! Heh, heh, heh."

"Well. I'll be heading back. See you around."

"Roger, sir."

"…the guy's NECK!" Masada was apparently finishing blurting out threats and insults.

"Masada – sensei! Please! Do calm down, ma'am!" Present tried to calm her down.

"Utsuki – sensei! Don't get in MY way! This is MY PREY! NYA~H!"

11:06 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So… The end of a season?"

"As usual, Boss."

"…seasons controlled by the Rod of Seasons and…"

"DRAGO~N!"

"Not again."

Omega was talking with Vadous in the dome-shaped room when Dragon Hell's whispers, echoed by some reason, rang out from the grids left and right of the central corridor: Omega sighed while Vadous lashed out at the guy: hurried footsteps over metal could be heard before a couple of doors hummed while opening and closing.

"Sheesh."

"Hmmm… Maybe it was Lander, even."

"What? Now Lander plans on replacing Shadow Man as the local prankster or what?" Vadous sighed.

"I met with Shadow Man along the way… He and Miyabi were going off some days to Gunma to hunt for a hint regarding a possible club somewhere in there… They'll be out of contact for some days."

"Fine. But, really… Where did that of…?"

"_Legend of Zelda_…"

"Not again… I have enough with Twilight picking the title of _maou_ from Ganon to begin with. Sheesh. How annoying!"

"Yeah. I know."

"So? Iris and Trill reported something from their patrol?"

"No. Iris did fix another hole in Dragon's security yesterday." Omega reported.

"Dragon…! Does he even USE the laptop?"

"Scarcely. VERY."

"So why doesn't he keep it shut down and in a closet or drawer so that it doesn't become a security hole every twice or thrice?" Vadous complained.

"Good idea. We could do that."

"Omega? It's me, Zero." A radio transmission came in.

"So?"

"The Reverse Internet is full of Ra's al Ghul _ninja_, as usual. Coupled with "Dementors" from Harry Potter, orcs from the _Lord of the Rings_ and some disgusting-looking guy named Summerill which apparently comes from those games Twilight picked the armors from." He grumbled as he described his findings.

"Lovely." Vadous grumbled next.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Did ya like my decoration? I got inspired by _The Secret of the Unicorn_! Tintin finds an abandoned section of the basement full of stuff from across the world in Marlinspike Hall! Including Red Rackham's Treasure~!" Cloud Man laughed close by.

"And here I thought Sigma had given you a lesson."

"That sword is a good tool to send guys flyin' but it wasn't enough to beat the great me~! Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"Fine. I'll cut you down into pieces!"

"Oho. Lucy~ is calling for me~ so~… _Bye – bye~_… Remote~ Gate~!"

"Sheesh." Zero grumbled.

"What an _otaku_." Vadous cursed.

"Curse of the _otaku_, even…" Omega grimly muttered.

"What have we done to deserve this? Damn you, Twilight!"

"Calm down, Boss! If only he weren't so prone to anger…!"

10:19 AM (Melbourne Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Yo! Bapgei. I'm back with a backing backer of backers."

"What the fuck is that?"

"Your worst nightmare: shoulder-ache!"

"Sure, sure. Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Apart from decorating the Reverse Cyber World?"

"Apart from that, yeah."

"Yeah. Right. I've got something to do… And that is… To hack into Nintendo's servers and figure out if they're working in Gen V as we speak!"

Philip had been playing with his Nintendo DS on the Melbourne house bedroom when Cloud Man showed up at his left: he didn't bother to take his eyes off the screen while Cloud Man came up with a joke in the spot, as usual.

"Fine. But I hate spoilers."

"Oh? And what about the Court of Owls?"

"Sheesh. I'm not a Bat-man fan so I didn't mind that one: besides, it's the reason for my disguise."

"Heh, heh, heh. The convenient reason at hand!"

"Huff. Get lost in the plains of Aye Rock."

"Aye-yea!"

"Patent it."

"Delighted! Before that… Behold!"

A holographic screen displaying the other Darkloids and Zoan Gate Man discussing in the floor below, within the laptop: Twilight could be seen reading a _Bat-man_ comic book and humming.

"Find a quiet place to meditate: I'll contact you when the coast is clear or when a new mission is issued." Freeze Man told Yamato Man.

"Roger. I'll be going. Later."

"I'm going to reinforce security." Cosmo Man announced.

"At least Twilight – sama is in a good mood." Swallow Man whispered to the others.

"Thankfully enough!" Zoan Gate Man sighed.

"Metto~?"

"Get in position and spread to collect news: make sure you're not spotted and if you're spotted deploy decoys and retreat. Erase your traces along the way." He commanded the Mettools.

"Aha-hah! So you can transfer your soul to other bodies as well, my fellow Ra's? Interesting! But I see no point on it myself. I'm fine enough with my own _immortal_ body. And, by the way… My fellow Nelaus… To explain Vamp's question to Raiden in Act 2… I'd rather say…. "You, too, have been _turned_ into an immortal body?"… Instead of "placed" as you suggested, you see… It makes more sense, don't ya think? Heh, heh, heh. I'm a genius or so Vincent says!" Twilight began to chuckle aloud.

"Is that _The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul_?" Philip guessed.

"Yessir. And now I'm going to borrow ideas there too!"

Cloud Man warped out of the room and Philip sighed in relief: he then formed a smug grin.

"Well. Another season ends. We'll see what'll happen next season: look forward to it!" He snickered.

"Behold! The return of Ra's al Twilight!" Twilight joked.

"Sheesh. Oh well. Maybe I should drop by Ms. Vanessa's place to have some fun too… She's a refreshing Mistress, truly."

_Heh, heh, heh. Nelaus… Our battle will continue! Next season! Heh!_

11:13 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Meijin – san? The report, sir."

"Good job, Obihiro – kun."

"Hello there."

"Hey. Colonel. Did you find anything?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary… I just dropped by to check on the security just in case…"

"That's fine."

"Did you see my coffee cup?"

"Ah! Hikari – hakase, sir. No, we didn't."

"Hum. Where did I place at?"

Obihiro handed a report over to Meijin just as Colonel dropped by to check on the situation: Yuuichirou came into the lab while looking somewhat disoriented.

"Meijin – sama~! The attack of the flying coffee-cup!" Someone called out off the room.

"Rado! You moron! That coffee cup belongs to Hikari – hakase!" Meijin growled back.

"W-what? It wasn't yours?"

"Rado – kun! Come to my office: there's going to be serious talk since your reports don't seem to contribute to anything!" Yuuichirou got annoyed and called out to Rado.

"Y-yes, sir…" He gulped.

"By all the… I got warned that madness struck this city but I wasn't expecting it to assault the Science Labs too." Colonel cursed.

"It does. Unfortunately enough." Laser Man sighed as he came into the Cyber World.

"Rado! Where is my ball-pen?" Dr. Regal questioned off the room to Rado while sounding pretty if not totally annoyed.

"B-ball pen, sir? I thought it was Meijin's…"

"Is that so?" He icily questioned.

"UWA~H!"

"By all the… What's with the background checks?"

"They're not strict enough!" Yuuichirou fumed.

"Or the interviewer isn't strict enough either. Which reminds me: who is the main interviewer?" Meijin frowned under the sunglasses.

"When I got interviewed it was a certain Makata – san…"

"Makata…? Makata… Sheesh! I knew it: it's a nephew of the Medicine Minister! Influence traffic! And since the guy must be the troll type too then he lets these guys inside!" Meijin realized.

"By all the…" Yuuichirou cursed.

"We'll call the police: that guy's precious uncle won't be able to save his hide from my ANGER!"

Meijin stormed off the lab while Yuuichirou and the others sighed in defeat at the happenings.

"The classical influence traffic, huh…" Dr. Regal muttered.

"Sadly enough…" Yuuichirou sighed.

"I'll get back to work." Obihiro rolled his eyes.

"I'll go report to my Operator. See you around." Colonel announced.

"We better return to our duties, Dr. Regal – sama."

"True. Let's go."

"Oh well. Let's get back to work and Meijin will solve this."

_Really… We need to prove that we're a serious research lab! Sheesh._

17:24 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So another season ends…"

"And a new season will begin…"

"By the way! Dekao! Don't think of doing that again. Get it?"

"Yeah… Meiru – chan…"

"Chu! I'll be watchin' ya!"

"Enzan will shudder at my invention!"

"Is that so? Ayanokouji."

"Wha! Enzan! Why are cha here?"

"The soul of chess guided us."

"Sheesh. That joke's lame, Laika."

The 4 – A students exited the building after classes and got to the street while chatting: the twins were calm, Meiru warned Dekao, he sighed, Chisao warned him too and Yaito began to brag but then found that Enzan and Laika were waiting in the street: Enzan made a lame joke.

"Desu! I got a mail saying that Tooru – kun will go to a club with Wataru – san!" Ice Man reported.

"Sheesh. What a lame pun. I mean, both "Tooru" and "Wataru" can mean "to cross" so…" Tooru sighed.

"Aura – chan: ex – _senpai_ tried to sneak a key-logger in the PET but I disposed of it." Felicia reported.

"Sheesh. What a stubborn gal." Aura sighed.

"Hey. Nelaus. I found Swallow Man and he suddenly showed me live feed of Vincent acting the idiot." Isaac rolled his eyes.

"No surprise. Don't ask me why." Nelaus wasn't impressed.

"No surprise either." The twins muttered.

"So I sent the guy flying!" Sigma laughed.

"We knew that already." Search Man fumed.

"Omega told us, anyway." Blues admitted.

"See? I told you to quit the bragging." Blood Shadow scolded.

"Mugro~h… Did ya see how Higure Yamitarou pleaded for mercy, Arushi~?" Balrog laughed.

"It – wasn't – funny!" He scolded in a whisper.

"What a club!" Eboshi muttered.

BEEP!

"What? Simultaneous email? Sheesh. Twilight! "Behold! Next season I'll become Ra's al Twilight!"… How LAME." Netto read aloud.

"How the mighty have fallen." Saito wasn't impressed.

"And how the rooks have risen." Laika joked.

"How original, Mr. Soldier." Enzan directed a skeptical glare at him.

"Dunno why they always need to counter each other, niisan…"

"Don't ask me either. Search Man and Blues fail to see the point too."

"Oh well. Let's look forward to this break." Nelaus tried to cheer them up.

"Provided by Break Man?" Isaac added with a grin.

"And Rest Girl." Aura giggled.

"Maybe." Felicia shrugged.

"Alright! The Akihara 4th year group says: we'll beat you as many times as it takes, Neo Gospel!" Netto rallied.

"Come at us! We won't lose so easily! Not without a fight!" Saito added.

The Operators and the Navis laughed in an animated manner…

**THE END**


End file.
